The Prisoners' Escape
by ForgetTheWalls97
Summary: Annabeth met Percy when they were seven years old. Then they met Thalia and Luke. But on their journey to Camp, Percy is taken to the underworld because he is Poseidon's son. Can Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke save him if they think he's dead? Luke isn't evil yet.
1. Why we ran

**Disclaimer; I don't own the Percy Jackson series.**

Annabeth took deep breaths as she tried to calm down. Key word being tried. She had finally done it. She had just run away from home. After years of being treated like filth, she had finally had enough. She knew why her family had treated her like this. It was because Annabeth wasn't normal or human. She was a demigod.

Her mother was Athena; Goddess of wisdom.

Annabeth was currently leaning against the side of an old abandoned house. She knew it would not be wise to stay there long; this was where the unruly teenagers hung out after curfew. She looked around the rest of the town, trying to find a decent place to stay.

A little farther down the street, she could see an old and vandalized playground. She almost smiled; it was a good enough place to sleep.

She slung her red backpack over her shoulder and made her way over to the playground. She decided to sleep under one of the large platforms that led up to the slide.

But, before she could get to the platform, she heard someone mumbling something she couldn't decipher. Her eyebrow furrowed in confusion. Why would someone be here this late at night?

She heard the mumbling again, and ran over to where it seemed to be coming from. Laying in one of the large tubes was a young boy who seemed to be as old as she was. He had messy black hair and was wearing a large shirt and dirty pants. He was asleep, and was mumbling something again.

"No… go away…monsters…mom…"

She frowned slightly. Did he just say monsters? Could he be a half-blood?

She tentatively stepped forward and put her hand on his shoulder. He immediately jerked away and stared at her in shock. He scrambled into a sitting position and his hand seemed to twitch towards his pocket.

He had the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen. They were the color of the ocean, and seemed to change from green to blue to green again.

"Who are you?" he asked boldly.

"Annabeth." she replied as calmly as she could.

"You're one of the monsters aren't you?" he asked angrily. She looked at him, knowing she was right when she thought that he was a demigod.

"You're a half-blood!" she exclaimed. The boy nodded wearily.

"Why do you care?" he asked.

"Because I'm a half-blood too!" she said cheerfully. "My mother is Athena."

He tensed slightly and seemed to be deep in thought. This confused her; had she said something wrong?

"What about you?" She asked. "Who's your godly parent?"

The boy didn't say anything, much to her annoyance. It was a simple question. Why couldn't he just tell her?

"My father is Poseidon." He finally said quietly.

Annabeth gasped, her eyes wide. Could Poseidon have broken the oath? It was possible, but this kid could just be lying. But why would he?

"Are you sure? How do you know?" She asked skeptically.

"My mom told me, right before she died. And, I have certain… powers. I have powers that only children of Poseidon can have."

Her mind began spinning. Poseidon had broken the oath? She started thinking of all that meant. If anyone found out, this kid would be hunted down by the Gods and killed.

"What do you mean powers?" She asked.

"I can control water, and breath underwater, and heal minor cuts with water, I can talk to horses and fish… I think that's it." He replied impressively.

She felt her mouth drop open in hock before she closed it quickly in embarrassment. She hadn't realized how powerful children of the big three were. What him could this mean for her?

"Mind if I sit?" she asked politely.

"Go ahead." He replied, grinning slightly. She plopped down next to him and stared around at the gloomy tube.

"I never did get your name." she said after awhile of comfortable silence.

"Percy Jackson."

She nodded, and smiled slightly. That was a nice name. Another comfortable silence filled the air.

"So… you're a daughter of Bird Brain?" he asked in amusement. Annabeth glared at him.

"She's the goddess of wisdom. At least _I'm_ not a child of Kelp Head." She said angrily. He laughed, fueling her anger even more.

"All right, all right, calm down Wise Girl."

"Don't tell me to calm down, Seaweed Brain."

They continued to bicker without any real threat, enjoying each others' companies. Eventually, the conversation turned more serious.

"So what do we do now?" he asked.

She thought about that for while. What could they do? They couldn't separate, they would be stronger together. They couldn't go to adults, seeing as no adults can be trusted anymore. But how would they, two seven-year-olds, live on the run? They would have to.

"We go on the run. We've gotta stick together. As much as our parents hate each other, you need me if you wanna survive." I said.

"_I_ need _you_?" he scoffed "Please, I've been living on my own for three days."

Annabeth was slightly offended. Did he think she couldn't handle being on the run without him? She voiced her thoughts.

"_I_ don't need _you_. My mother is the goddess of wisdom. I'm sure I could handle myself unlike a certain moron here, aka _you_."

"Harsh." He smirked, making her seethe.

"Look," Percy said "We need _each other_. Okay? Let's just _try_ to get through the next week without killing each other. I mean, we're not our parents. We don't have to fight just because they do."

She looked at him in surprise. Did the son of Poseidon- the sea spawn- Just say something _wise_? She thought he did. But, she would never tell him that. It would only inflate his ego.

"Fine." She said sitting down.

"Here." He said, handing her a dagger. "You should use this, to keep yourself safe from the monsters."

She nodded, and murmured her thanks, placing the knife next to her.

"What about you?" she asked "What's your weapon."

He grinned, and pulled out a ballpoint pen. Before she could wonder if he was mental, he pulled off the cap and a bronze sword replaced the pen.

"Wow…" she whispered, unable to say anything more.

"Its name is riptide." He told her "It was a gift from my father."

She nodded, and the he put away the sword, leaving them both in yet another silence.

"Why did you run away from home?" he asked suddenly.

She looked at him in suspicion. Why would he want to know that? Then again, when she thought about it, the question did make sense. Since they were going to on the run together, she guessed he would want to know that.

"I'll tell you on one condition." I told him "You tell me why you left your home, and I'll tell you why I left mine."

He seemed to think about it for a minute, before nodding uncertainly.

"Well," she started "My father didn't like that I was a half-blood. He thought I was a freak. Then, he remarried and had two _normal_ children, and completely forgot about me. So, I got the message. I left."

They sat in silence for awhile, both thinking about what had just been said.

"I'm sorry." Percy said after while.

"Why?" Annabeth asked. She didn't think he had anything to be sorry for. After all, it was her fathers' fault, and that woman he married.

"Because it's horrible that they did that to you." He said "And they should be sorry for what they did to you, but they're not. So I guess I'm being sorry instead of them."

She smiled at him because what he said made no sense, but was really sweet.

"Now you tell me your story." Annabeth said.

Percy frowned, and looked like he'd rather be anywhere but here.

"My demigod smell is a lot stronger than most people's." he said after awhile "So more monsters come. My mom married this jerk, named Gabe. He smelled _really_ bad, but his stink covered up my demigod smell. My mom got really sick though. Sh- she died, in the hospital. But, before she died, she told me all about the gods, and my dad."

He stopped there, as if he had to collect himself before he continued. She felt a strong surge of pity for him. It must have horrible for his mom to die. But that still didn't answer her question.

"But why did you leave?" she asked quietly, fearing the answer. He looked at the ground, as if he was ashamed.

"My step-dad, Gabe... he hit me. And started being even more of a jerk than he was before mom died. After awhile I just couldn't take it anymore, and I left. That was three days ago."

Annabeth had her hand to her mouth when he finished, and tears were leaking out of her eyes. How could anyone do that? Even her horrid dad and step-mom never _hit_ her. She didn't say anything, instead, she moved closer to him, and grabbed his hand.

"Well you won't ever have to go back." She told him "We can take care of each other. Everything will be alright. We should go to sleep."

He nodded, and they both lay down next to each other, still holding hands.

As she felt Percy press herself against him, she couldn't help but feel that everything really would be alright.

**Hey everyone! Okay, this is my first PJO story so pretty please review. Remember- I review faster with more reviews :)**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Another Broken Promise

_=;..;=Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Prisoners' Escape=;..;=_

**Two months later, Annabeth's p.o.v.**

I could ignore the fact that tree branches and thorns were tearing at my skin. I could ignore the fact that I lost one of my shoes. I could ignore the fact that I could hardly breath while I was running as fast as I could. But I could not ignore the fact that three Draco Aionius (A/N- did I spell that right?) were chasing Percy and I.

We were trying not to run into each other, but I was exhausted, and I didn't think I would make it much farther. Percy looked how I felt. Scrapes, cuts, and bruises covered almost all of his skin, and his dirty clothes were torn in several places.

The trees were becoming farther apart now; I saw a light ahead through the forest. My mind began racing as fast as my feet were. Was that a town, or a neighborhood? What would the mist make them look like? Would the monsters hurt the people? Or was the light just from a clearing?

I soon found out, as the trees disappeared, leaving blinding sunlight. But ahead of me wasn't a town, or a clearing, but a cliff. Percy and I slammed to a stop just in time. I could see an open field at the bottom of the cliff. If we fell, there was no way we would survive.

Two of he monsters edged closer, waiting until their boss gave them signal to attack. After a few seconds of them growing closer, the one in the middle let out a horrid cry of war, and the two monsters in the middle lunged at us.

Before I could even think, the two monsters collapsed on the ground, a cluster of arrows in both of their backs. I gasped and looked at Percy and the last monster, not knowing what to think. Percy and the monster looked just as shocked as I'm sure I did.

Suddenly, blood soaked the front of the Draco Aionius. The beast fell on the ground, just as dead as it's friends. When he fell, a girl appeared behind him, a bloody sword in her hand.

The girl seemed to be fifteen or sixteen. She had black hair that was spiked so it looked like she just hacked it off with a knife. Her big eyes were electric blue and fierce. She had a black shirt with a skull and black leggings. A black bag was slung around her shoulder. She looked grim.

"Are you guys okay?" she asked in concern.

"Who are you? You're one of the monsters aren't you?" I yelled at her, shock making me unable to think as clear as I normally could have. The girls eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Monsters?" she asked "Are you a half-blood?"

"Are you?" Percy shot back. She chuckled.

"I asked you first. But, if you must know, yes, I am. And I'm assuming you guys are too"

Percy and I gasped, and exchanged quick glances. We nodded to show her that we were half-bloods.

"Who's your godly parent?" I asked.

Before she could reply, a boy's voice sounded from behind her.

"Thalia?"

The girl- Thalia- turned around and murmured something. A boy stepped up from behind her and whispered something in her ear.

The boy seemed to be Thalia's age. He had sand-colored hair and browneyes. He was thin and pale, but had obvious muscles. There were many cuts and bruises on both him and Thalia. I figured he was a half-blood too.

"So you two are demigods?" he asked.

Percy and I exchanged glances, and nodded.

"Yea." Percy replied. The boy's face twisted into a smile. He seemed to radiate kindness.

"Well why don't you come with us?" he asked "We have food, and a little camp in a clearing over there." he pointed behind them "It's not much," he shrugged "but it works."

"Uhhh… can you give us a minute?" I asked them hesitantly. They nodded, and I turned to face Percy.

"What do you wanna do?" I whispered to him. His eyebrows were furrowed and I could see he was concentrating hard. _Don't hurt yourself._ I thought dryly. Is it even possible for

someone to think something dryly?

I shook my head slightly to clear out these thoughts. Hey, don't blame me, blame my ADHD.

"I don't know…" he said "I think they're like us. I don't think they would try to hurt us. Plus, they have food…" he looked at me pleadingly, and I sighed.

"Fine, we'll go, and see what's up. But if you get us into this mess, you're getting us out." I warned. He laughed.

"Like you would leave your fate to _me_." He said.

Actually, I would trust him with my fate. He was the only person who was ever nice to me. And yea, he may be a Seaweed Brain, but he's great at fighting. Not that I would ever tell him that, of course.

"Lead the way." He told the two other demigods.

They smiled, and turned away, beckoning us over to follow. We glanced at each other for a split second, then walked towards them.

_=;..;=Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Prisoners' Escape=;..;=_

**Thalia's p.o.v.**

They were still nervous around us, I knew that. We were sitting around a clearing, eating through the food Luke had stolen. The two kids- who we found were named Annabeth and Percy- had obviously gone some time without food, Percy especially.

I noticed how close those two were. They seemed to be able to talk to each other with just a simple glance. And, when either of them seemed uncomfortable or unhappy, the other could cheer them up in a second.

I could also see how much Luke liked these guys. He was smiling and laughing more than I had ever seen before. He had been very bitter lately about the Gods, but he didn't seem bitter at all now. I scooted a little closer to him, and leaned in towards his ear.

"Luke," I whispered "We should offer to let them stay with us."

He looked torn, and I was too. These kids were great to be around, and they looked like they could really use some help. But, we weren't babysitters; it was hard enough taking care of ourselves. Finally, after several moments of thinking, he sighed.

"Hey guys." He called to Annabeth and Percy. "We were wondering if you'd like to come with us."

Percy and Annabeth looked confused.

"Go where with you?" he asked.

I gave Luke a slightly exasperated look. Of course they didn't understand what he meant. We needed to learn about how to talk to kids.

"On the run. We could go together around the country. Like a family." I told them kindly.

Luke looked at me and I could tell he was trying to suppress a smile. I knew why; I was _never_ this nice to people. Especially when we just met them. But these were kids, there was no need to be harsh with them.

Percy and Annabeth looks shocked, before both of their faces stretched into a smile.

"Yea!" they both exclaimed excitedly. I was surprised, I hadn't expected them to agree so fast. But I guess they didn't really understand anything.

"Okay," I took a deep breath "Before you come with us, there's something we need to tell you."

They looked confused, but excited.

"Luke's father is Hermes." I started "And my father is… Zeus. Do you know about the gods' oath?"

They both gasped. I was surprised that they both seemed to know what that meant.

"You mean that Zeus broke the oath to?" Annabeth asked in shock.

Luke and I nodded uneasily. Annabeth and Percy shared a glance, and they both nodded slightly as though having another one of their 'conversations'.

"Well…" Percy said uncertainly "While we're at it, might as well tell you. My father is Poseidon."

My eyes widened and my mouth dropped. I shared a look with Luke, who seemed to be furious. I was too. The gods broke the oath yet again! And Percy would have to pay the price. Couldn't the gods just keep a friggin' promise? Annabeth broke the silence.

"My mother's Athena." She announced proudly.

Another silence ensued.

"We should get to bed." Luke informed us. "We need to move. The monsters will know that we've been here."

"Were will we go?" Annabeth asked. It amazed me how innocent she seemed, even though I knew she was a half-blood and she had been through many horrors.

"I think I have an idea." Percy stated "When we were coming here, I saw a clubhouse in the town over there that wasn't being used anymore. It was really old."

"That will work." I grinned "Let's get going."

_=;..;=Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Prisoners' Escape=;..;=_

**And with that, the family was complete. If only they had known how soon that family would be torn apart.**

**Hey! Okay, lots I'm of you are gonna kill me for moving there relationship too fast, but before you burn me at the stake, let me explain. First off, they were on their own for two months. That would make **_**any**_** two kids close. Secondly, in the PJO books, they become the two best friends **_**ever**_**, not to mention the fact that they fall in love. Third, I see no point in putting in several chapters where they are just starting to trust each other and whatnot. **

**Okay, I know that several of you will think these reasons are crap, but mostly I'm just glad so many people reviewed! That gave me tons of inspiration for this chapter! **

**Please review again!**

**p.s.- I know that sometimes I changed from 3****rd**** person to 1****st**** person last chapter, and I just wanna say I'm sorry about that.**

**Reviews**

_**no-percabeth-is-no-life**_**- First off; I love your username :) Thanks for the kind review; it means a ton to me. I try to update as fast as possible, but I'm writing another story so we'll see what happens. I will not go two weeks without an update, unless I have no choice (If I'm at camp or something) and I'll give you a warning if that happens.**

_**IFoundAPickle**_**- Thanks!**

_**starglow13**_**- I'm glad you like it! As for updating, see my response to 'no-percabeth-is-no-life's review above.**

_**Gerson**_**- I say that because I will lose inspiration for this story if I don't get reviews. Only 1 review per chapter is fine, but I just feel so great every time I get a review. I'm glad you think the story is good.**

_**TheMuseNamedPancake**_**- I'm so glad you like it! And I agree with you, a lot of PJO stories are really bad, it's great that you don't think mine is. The idea that Annabeth meets Percy when they were seven has been done before, but never quite like mine. Hope your brownies tasted good :D**

_**Green-ac-percabeth**_**- Glad you think so!**

_**SeaChick**_**- Sorry about the 1****st**** person-3****rd**** person thing. I've only ever written one story before and it was in 1****st**** person, so this chapter was in 1****st**** person. I don't know if the whole story will be in 1****st**** person, but I probably will be. As for the romance, they weren't really flirting or anything. It was all friendship, but when I reread it, I could see where there was some percabeth, but only if you squint. Thanks so much for taking the time to review!**

_**A Sea of Sound**_**- Thank you for taking the time to review! I know what you mean by the whole 'moving to fast thing'. While I was writing this, I had totally pumped and excited to get this story going. Then, after I already posted it, I re-read it and noticed that it was going a little fast. But, in the Last Olympian, when it shows how Annabeth met Thalia and Luke, she trusts them really fast and so I think she would trust Percy like that too. As for the '1****st**** person-3****rd**** person' thing, I know. I've never written a 3****rd**** person story, so the rest of this story will be 1****st**** person.**

**Thank you**

**no-percabeth-is-no-life, IFoundAPickle, starglow13, Gerson, TheMuseNamedPancake, ****Liljean15690, LazaAusta, August57, Angel's Detective, snush, Werewolf Starr, emilyyy5254, haskellrebekah, Green-ac-percabeth, SeaChick, ****A Sea of Sound**


	3. Goat Man and Hellhounds

**I don't own the Percy Jackson series.**

**Seven months later**

**Annabeth's p.o.v.**

"When are they going to be back?" I sounded whiny, even to myself, but I was worried about them. Luke and Percy were out stealing some food for us, but they had left awhile ago, and I was nervous.

"They'll be here soon." Thalia soothed me, but I could hear just the barest trace of doubt in her voice, and it scared me.

"What's taking them so long?" I persisted, thinking that she didn't know, but hoping she did.

"I-I'm sure they're just getting more food than usual… Come on, you can help me find a tooth brush in one of our bags." I could tell she was trying to distract me, something I was annoyed by and grateful for at the same time.

Almost a half an hour later, I could tell even Thalia was panicked. The boys were supposed to be back. They said they would come back! So where are they? What if something happened to them? What if the monsters got them? What if they're-? What if Percy's-?

No! Don't think like that! They'll be okay, _he'll_ be okay… he has to be. Still, I couldn't help but imagine the worst. I kept seeing Percy, my _best friend_ hurt, scared, and alone. But no, I mean, Luke would protect him, right? Besides, Percy was the best fighter I knew (I even thought he was better than Thalia and Luke). He wouldn't let himself be hurt. He wouldn't do that to me…

Where are you, Percy?

I never noticed that I fell asleep. My nightmares were the same as my thoughts. I dreamt Percy and Luke were hurt or attacked by monsters. I felt myself being shaken awake by someone, and I awoke immediately. When my hazy vision cleared, I nearly screamed in relief.

Percy and Luke were back. I threw myself at Percy and hugged him fiercely. But, before I could yell at him for worrying me, I noticed that there was a shape behind them, and my eyes widened. There was a person there, no… not a person…

It was a satyr.

_:~~~;;',',Percy Jackson and the Olympians',',;;~~~:_

Percy's P.O.V

I hissed as a long thorn tore thru my arm.

"Why do we gotta go _this_ way?" I complained. Luke's eye twitched slightly, and I knew how much I was annoying him, but I couldn't help it. This way took _forever_ and thorns and branches kept scratching me.

"We'll be there soon, okay? I promise." He reassured me. We were silent again for several more steps, when I heard something coming from behind us. I looked up at Luke, who hadn't reacted at all.

"Luke!" I whispered desperately.

"What's wrong?" he whispered back in concern.

"Did you hear that Luke?" I asked worriedly. He got really serious when I asked him that.

"What did you hear, where did he come from?" He asked in determination.

"Uhhhmmm… over there." I pointed behind us. "It sounded like footsteps, but they were weird footsteps. And it didn't sound like the thing was as big as a monster. It was just an animal right? Luke?"

He ran over to where I pointed and looked around the trees that were there.

"Maybe." He said after a few seconds. "But we should get back to the girls, and try to be quiet."

"M'kay." I whispered sneakily. Naturally, in my attempt to be quiet, I fell over a huge tree root and into some bushes, making lots of noise. Luke ran over and grabbed my arms, yanking me back up.

"You okay?" he asked. When I nodded, he pulled me forcefully, and started running.

"We need to get away from there, incase anyone heard us."

We ran for while, before he decided we could slow down and just walk.

"We've taken a really long time, Luke." I asked worriedly. "What if Annabeth and Thalia are worried? Annabeth will kill me for taking so long!"

"Relax." He said casually. "Your girlfriend won't kill you, but I do think they're a little worried, so hurry your butt up."

"She's not my girlfriend!" I cried indignantly. Thalia loved to tease me and say I'm Annabeth's boyfriend, but I thought Luke was on my side! And it's not true, anyways. Annabeth is annoying, even though she is my best friend. Luke just chuckled.

"Hello?" someone asked us from behind.

We whipped around and Luke put himself in front of me. I peered around him to see someone probably Luke's age, but he wasn't human. He had legs that were… goat legs? What did Annabeth call these guys? Satyrs. This guy was a satyr. I glanced at Luke, who had his sword out and was in a defensive position. I uncapped riptide and glared at this dude.

"Who are you?" Luke asked forcefully.

"I'm not gonna hurt you!" The satyr cried. He sounded worried, but happy at the same time. I didn't even know people could do that. How did he do that? I never understood how people could have two different emotions at the same time. Annabeth called them something…. Conflicting emotions? I don't know, I can never understand her.

Because of my little ADHD moment there, I didn't listen to the rest of the conversation, until Luke straightened out of his defensive position, but didn't put away his sword. I did the same thing.

They talked some more, but I didn't understand what they were saying, and I couldn't focus on them enough to follow some of the things they said. All I could get was that this satyr- apparently name Grover –wanted us to come with him somewhere.

He said it was a camp, called camp half-blood. The camp sounded familiar. I think my mom told me something about that, before she died.

"Follow me." Luke told the satyr. He grabbed my arm and started pulling me along. I noticed that he always put himself in-between me and Grover.

Luke was obviously still wary of Grover. I thought he seemed pretty cool, even though he was really nervous about something. We walked like that for a really long time, until we finally got to the clearing we were sleeping in. I saw Luke take a deep breath, and I did too.

Now we had to tell the girls about camp.

_ :~~~;;',',Percy Jackson and the Olympians',',;;~~~:_

**Thalia's p.o.v.**

I was on watch while Annabeth slept. I focused on paying attention to my surroundings, and tried not to let my mind wander. Everything was quiet for the most part, only animals disrupted my watch. As hard as I tried, I felt myself worrying about Luke and Percy. Luke was my best friend. If anything happened to him…

And Percy and Annabeth were like my little siblings, except we never fought with each other. Annabeth would be devastated if anything happened to that kid, and although I will never say it out loud, I would be devastated too. I sighed. This is why it's a bad idea to have friends if you're a demigod.

But that was impossible with Luke, Annabeth, and Percy. Luke was kind, smart, and charming. Percy was energetic, happy, and had the biggest heart of everyone I knew. Annabeth was a genius, adorable, and polite. Luke and I took care of those kids. Nothing could happen to them, I don't think I would be able to handle the kids or Luke dying.

Suddenly, my sharp eyes caught movement to the left of the clearing. I watched like a hawk, trying to see if it was an animal, or something much worse. To my relief it was neither. Percy, Luke, and a satyr walked through the woods, and I stood. I was so relieved to see them I almost didn't see the satyr.

I did a quick check of Percy and Luke, and was relieved that they didn't seem to have any recent injuries other than what they had before.

"What took you guys so long?" I hissed angrily. "And who's the satyr?"

Before they could speak, Percy ran over to Annebeth and shook her awake forcefully. Her eyes snapped open and she quickly looked around her. The look on her face was so relieved

it was almost comical. She threw her arms around him and hugged him as if he almost died. She looked over his shoulder, and I saw her eyes widen at the satyr.

"Who are you? What's going on?" she asked in confusion.

"We're going to camp!" Percy announced cheerfully, not noticing Luke shaking his head at him desperately.

"What?" I nearly screamed. Percy seemed to realize his mistake, as he looked properly abashed. Annabeth looked as shocked as I was.

"There's this camp." Luke explained. "This satyr says it's a safe place for demigods. We could train there, and meet other demigods."

Before I could respond, Annabeth jumped in cheerfully.

"We should go! That sounds great! Can we go Luke?" she asked.

"No." I said before Luke got to answer. "No way, this just screams 'trap'!"

"It's not a trap!" Percy and the satyr cried simultaneously.

"What are you talking about Percy?" Luke asked in confusion. Percy shook his head as if we were being silly.

"My mom _told_ me about camp." He said. "Before she died, she said she wanted me to go there."

"Why didn't you tell us that, Percy?" Annabeth asked, looking betrayed.

"I forgot." Percy said simply. The sad part is, I knew him well enough to know that he _would_ forget something like that.

"So, uh, you guys coming, or what?" the satyr asked nervously.

"We're going!" Annabeth and Percy chirped. They looked at me.

"I… guess we could… go." I said uncertainly. They started cheering as if I just gave them a million dollars.

"No!" Luke shouted angrily. "We're not walking right into this trap! Absolutely not."

The kids began to whine, and the satyr looked- if possible- more nervous.

"Luke." I sighed. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Fine." He said curtly. We walked just far enough that we could keep an eye on the kids, but still be able to talk privately.

"Luke, we're going." I said immediately.

"You can't be serious!" he said incredulously. "This is the most obvious trap we've seen in awhile!"

"Percy's mom _wanted_ him to go!" I insisted. "She said it was _safe_. We can't keep living like this Luke! Imagine, warm beds, free meals-"

"Giant trap, monsters eating us…" he countered, but stopped at my glare.

"We'll go." I said, and continued before he interrupted. "And then we'll leave at the first sign of danger! The pros outweigh the cons, and we're _going_."

Before he could reply, a harsh scream sounded from the clearing. Our heads whipped around and what we saw took our breath for a second. Eight massive hellhounds circled around Percy, Annabeth, and the satyr. They all had their weapons drawn; I noticed that the satyr fought with a sword. (A/N: Grover doesn't have weapons in PJO, but I always thought that

was stupid since he's supposed to protect them…)

Luke and I ran forward, he drew his sword, but I used a bow and arrow. I shot one of the hellhounds from a distance, managing to hit just below its ribcage, but not very deep. The monster roared, and turned away from Percy, growling at me.

It went up on two legs to prepare for attack, but I sent another arrow at it, and this time it hit its heart. The monster quickly turned to dust, and I turned towards the others.

There were now only six, But Annabeth seemed to be injured. Blood seeped through the side of her shirt, and she kept a hand on it, even though she never stopped slashing at the hound. Percy worked with her on the same hellhound, and he seemed unhurt. The satyr was taking on two, but seemed to be having some trouble with them.

I ran over to Luke, who was attempting to take on three, and sent an arrow thru the beast's leg, weakening it long enough for Luke to kill it. We all worked like this. Annabeth and Percy fought one hellhound at a time, together.

The satyr and Luke used their swords to weaken and kill the monsters. I sent arrows at all the hounds, making it easier for them to be killed.

When their was only three left, I noticed something was wrong. Annabeth seemed slower than she was before, her adrenaline seemed to have left her. She swayed a little, and collapsed on the spot. The hellhound she was fighting wasted no time in attacking, but I sent an arrow at its stomach just as Percy stabbed its heart.

As soon as the monster was dead, Percy threw himself on Annabeth, checking her pulse and trying to stop the blood like we taught him to. I ran over to help, but he looked up and screamed "Go! Help the others!" I nodded, and but down my bow and drew my sword, finishing off the last of the hellhounds.

I checked out the others for injuries. Percy had a large bruise on his face, and his ankle was huge and swollen, probably twisted or broken. Luke's arm was limp at his side and there was blood on it, although the wound seemed very shallow, and was no longer bleeding. The satyr had a hand to his head, as if he had hit it on something.

We all ran to Annabeth, and dropped down next to her. Percy backed up to give us some room, but his eyes never left her face, and tears tracked marked his face. I pulled up Annabeths shirt so it was just above her stomach, and winced at the blood that covered her skin.

"Get some cloth, anything." Luke told me importantly.

I nodded, and ran towards my bag. I grabbed one of my black shirts and threw it to Luke, who caught it easily and put it on her side. When some of the blood was gone, I saw what her injury was. Three claw marks just under her ribs stuck out against her pale skin, on her left side. Percy gasped, and I looked at Luke desperately.

"Will she be okay?" I asked him. He thought about it for a moment, then replied.

"The cuts aren't that deep." He said "But she lost a lot of blood from moving around so much during the fight. She shouldn't walk for while, and she'll probably be asleep for some time. I'm not sure exactly how long. But eventually she should be fine."

I sighed in relief and grabbed some gauze for Annabeth. Luke grabbed it gratefully and started wrapping it around her.

"So Annabeth won't die?" Percy asked in a small voice.

"She won't die, Percy." I assured him. "I promise." 

He seemed pleased with that answer, and sat down, waiting for his turn to be treated.

**That night, still Thalia's p.o.v.**

Luke and I were the only ones awake. The satyr- named Grover- was still here. None of us had discussed camp since Annabeth was hurt. We stayed quiet for awhile, not really doing anything, until I finally lay down for some sleep.

"Thalia?" Luke's voice cut through my thoughts.

"Yea?" I replied curiously.

"You were right." He sighed. "We're going to Camp Half-Blood."

**Heya guys, I'm so sorry for being such a liar :( I said that I would never go two weeks without updating but it's been more than 2 weeks. I don't really have much of an excuse here, other than schools about to start and I'm lazy. Once again, I'm super sorry, and I hope you liked this chapter :) Oh, and by the way, I'm not really sure about their ages in PJO, so let me just clear that up now.**

**Percy- seven**

**Annabeth- seven**

**Luke- fourteen**

**Thalia- fourteen**

**Grover- satyr ages confuse me so for this story we'll just say he looks and acts fourteen.**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Reviews**

**CLARATHEBIGGESTPJOFAN- Thanks for taking the time to review! I like what you did with the letters in 'love'. I know I didn't update very fast, but you know how it is :)**

**starglow13- Thanks! I love reviews of all kinds, but reviews that are nothing but compliments make me feel all fuzzy inside :P that's a good thing…**

**Greek-AC-Thalassa****- Hope you liked this post!**

**Alytimae****- Thanks so much! I didn't really see many stories out there like this, but I wanted to read one. So I wrote one instead!**

**no-percabeth-is-no-life****- I agree totally on the username. There's nothing like some good ol' Percabeth to make me smile. I'm glad you like the chapter, and I hope you like this one too! Again, I'm so sorry about the updating thing, but alots been happening at home so it took me awhile. I didn't get a lot of time at the laptop to write this.**

**sweet-lovin-zombie****- I'm super glad you love it! And I like how you said 'update when you can' because that made me feel less guilty about being so late on the update.**

**SeaChick****- It's great that you think it's perfect! I love the word perfect :) I doubt I'm going to try and write 3****rd**** person again, I'm much more comfortable with 1****st****. About the minor issues, thanks for letting me know about that. I searched the first book to try and find Luke's eye color, but I didn't look very hard, so I was worried that I got the eye color wrong. About their ages, I know that Annabeth was seven when she found thalia and Luke in the PJO series, so annabeth and Percy are seven. I'm not really sure bout Thalia's and luke's ages, so for this story they'll jut be fourteen. Again, I feel horrible about this slow update :( sorry!**

**Lizabeth666- Thanks for taking the time to review! It makes me update faster, even though this update was super slow :(**

**awesome1234****- Glad you think it's great, sorry about the slow update!**

**artemishunter77****- Awwww, thanks! The compliments makes me feel great :) Don't worry, I understood what you were saying. And since you know about ADHD, if the **

**demigods aren't acting like kids with ADHD should, please let me know so I can fix it!**

**IFoundAPickle****- I'm happy you like my reasons :) About the updating, I didn't update soon but you did say as soon as possible, and this kind **_**is**_** as soon as possible (which is pretty weird since I have no life). Thanks for the review!**

**Thanks**

**CLARATHEBIGGESTPJOFAN, ****starglow13, ****Greek-AC-Thalassa****, ****Alytimae****, ****no-percabeth-is-no-life****, ****sweet-lovin-zombie****, ****SeaChick****, ****Lizabeth666, ****awesome1234****, ****artemishunter77****, ****IFoundAPickle****, Division Head, GotWaterPowers, gerson, DeathonOlympus**


	4. Unfinished Story

**Okay, so I received two requests.**

**1. There's kid-style percabeth stuff**

**2. Thalia tells Percy a Greek Myth**

**Disclaimer; I don't own the Percy Jackson series.**

**The next morning, Annabeth's p.o.v.**

"So where is this camp?" Luke asked Grover as we got all our stuff ready for departure.

"New York City." Grover answered immediately. "The mist makes it look like a strawberry field."

Grover had become a lot less nervous around us after we fought together yesterday. He was really cool, and even Thalia and Luke began to trust him. Percy was already talking excitedly with him about _everything_ as if they'd been friends forever.

"So guys…" Grover started to break the silence. "Who are your godly parents?"

It was a simple question. Well, it would have been if we didn't have Percy or Thalia with us. I glanced at Thalia and Luke, who were pretending they hadn't heard the question. But, I noticed how tense they were, so I knew that they heard.

"My dad's Poseidon." Percy answered cheerfully.

"PERCY!" Luke, Thalia, and I shouted at him angrily, me regretting it when my injured ribs burned.

Grover gasped and his eyes got super wide. I glanced nervously at him, Thalia, and Luke. I glared at Percy. I love him to death, but some day he's gonna say something so stupid I'll kill him.

"A-Are you _sure_?" Grover breathed.

"Look." Thalia said angrily, her eyes flashing. "We're perfectly sure. And if you have a problem with it, tell us right now."

Grover looked like he was about to pee his pants or something.

"No! I mean, I don't have a problem with it!" he said quickly.

"Good." Luke said coldly. "In that case, my father is Hermes, Annabeth's mother is Athena, and we don't know Thalia's."

Grover nodded, and we were quiet again. Obviously uncomfortable with the silence, Percy walked over to me and sat down.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine, why?" I asked in confusion.

"Gee, I dunno, maybe 'cuz you got sliced up by a hellhound a couple hours ago." He said sarcastically. I blushed.

"Shut up, Seaweed Brain." I said punching his shoulder. He laughed, and I mock-glared. He sobered up and sighed.

"Seriously though..." He said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm _fine_." I replied. He looked at me for a couple seconds, and my façade crumpled. "It hurts when I move it. But, since none of you are letting me help pack stuff up, I don't have to move it a lot. And, the pain meds help."

He nodded, but still looked worried.

"Aren't pain meds, like, _bad_ for kids or something? My mom never let me have any." He said. I shrugged.

"I'm sure Luke knows what he's doing." I said. "He didn't give me a lot, and it was probably for kids."

He still looked troubled, and I sighed.

"Percy." I started. "You do realize you're seven, right? Why are you so worried?"

"Well, you're seven too." He said. "We're not exactly normal. And I'll always be worried about you, Wise Girl." He shrugged. "It's what I do."

We were both silent for a couple seconds, until I spoke.

"What's up with you today?" I asked. He looked down, and sighed.

"There's gonna be tons of people at camp." He said quietly. "What if I never get to see you?" after a pause, he said hurriedly "And, Thalia, and Luke."

I frowned, contemplating what he said. What if he was right? I couldn't stand the thought of never seeing him.

"Well," I said slowly "I'm not sure what camp will be like. But I do know this; I'm not gonna stop being your friend." After a pause, I said quickly "Or Thalia, or Luke."

"Thanks." He said, relief clear in his tone. "I won't stop being friends with you either, even if you _are_ annoying."

I rolled my eyes but let it go, and he grinned back at me. He put his hand in his jacket pocket, and pulled out a small bag. He held it out to me and I saw it was filled with colorful beans.

"Jelly beans?" he offered.

"Thanks." I said happily as I pulled out a couple. He grabbed some blue ones, and we just sat for awhile, eating our jelly beans. I pulled out one of my Greek books, and started reading, even though I knew it would annoy Percy.

"Why are you _reading_ again?" he asked, exasperated. I huffed in annoyance.

"There's nothing wrong with reading, Percy." I said.

"Reading's _boring_. Let's do something _fun_!" He said excitedly.

"Like what?" I asked, actually interested to here what he wanted to do.

"Well…" he started slowly. "Thalia and Luke and Grover are talking about whatever, so, we should go swimming!" he finished with a huge smile, obviously quite pleased with himself.

I rolled my eyes. Really, I should have seen that coming.

"You _always_ wanna go swimming." I complained. "We'd have to go _all_ the way to the river. And, it's too cold out. Luke and Thalia won't let us."

He groaned, at look at me, annoyed. I knew he really didn't care about any of that stuff, especially since the water temperature didn't affect him. Gods, boys are such morons.

"Yo, ladies!" Luke called to Percy and I, much to Percy's irritation and my amusement. "It's time to get out of here."

He ran over to me and helped me up, even though Percy said he would. I had almost all my weight against Luke.

"How're we gonna get there?" Percy asked once I was standing. "It'll take to long to walk."

"We were just talking about that." Thalia told us. "There's a bus stop really close by. We have enough money for a couple bus rides so let's go."

The trip was slow and painful. Luke and Percy were pretty much carrying me and every step hurt. Finally, once we got to the bus stop, we got tons of weird looks, but I ignored them. I mean, we must have looked pretty weird.

The bus was really fancy. I had expected just a normal bus, with people standing and holding onto rails and stuff. But this one had rows of cushioned seats with an aisle going down the middle. On the bus, we sat in the middle. I sat next to Luke on the right side of the bus. Thalia and Percy sat next to each other, and right across from us. Grover sat behind them, alone.

_~~''..-Percy Jackson and the Olympians-..''~~_

**Thalia's p.o.v.**

"Thalia, I'm bored." Percy groaned.

"Okay… do you wanna read something?" I asked. "You like old Greek stories, right?"

He rolled his eyes as if I was being silly.

"Well yea, but I don't like _reading _them." He said. "Annabeth tells me them."

"I can tell you one. You wanna hear it?" I asked. He nodded excitedly. I grinned and started saying the first story that came to mind.

"Once there was a king named Acrisius, he had a beautiful daughter named Danae. The oracle of Apollo told Acrisius that Danae's son would one day kill him. Acrisius could not let that happen, so he locked Danae in a bronze tower so that she would never marry or have children."

"That's mean!" Percy interrupted loudly.

"A lot of people in these types of stories are mean. Anways, The tower had no doors, but it had one very small window. Danae was very sad, but one day a bright shower of gold came through the small window. A man appeared, he had a thunderbolt in his hand and Danae knew he was a god, but she didn't know which. The man said, "Yes, I am a god and I wish to make you my wife. I can make this dark prison a wonderful sunny land with many flowers."

"Ohhhhhhhhh, who is it?" Percy interrupted again.

"Who do you think it is?" I asked exasperatedly.

"That's why I'm asking you!" he exclaimed. I rolled my eyes.

"And that offer was stupid." He continued. "Who would want a field of flowers? Lame."

"That's not the point." I countered.

"Now if he turned it into something cool, like an arcade…" he ignored me. "Hey, Thalia?"

"Yea?" I sighed at the boy's short attention span.

"Why do all the people have weird names?" he asked curiously. My lips twitched, and I fought hard to not laugh.

"Back to the story," I continued. "All happened as he said, the horrible prison became fields almost as wonderful as the Elysian Fields themselves, but one day Acrisius saw light coming out of the small window. He told his men to tear down one of the walls. He walked into the tower and saw Danae with a baby on her lap, smiling she said, "I have named him Perseus." Acrisius was furious, he shut Danae and baby Perseus up in a large chest and cast them out to sea."

"Hey! He has my name!" Percy said, seeming very smug that he had come up with this observation.

"I thought you said the names in this story were weird?" I said innocently. "So that must mean Perseus is a weird name." His eyes widened then he shook his head.

"You have a weird name." he grumbled. "I don't… you do…"

"Alright, alright." I grinned at his obvious discomfort. I was about to continue the story, when I saw Luke, Annabeth, and Grover stand up.

"We're there." I announced, standing up and grabbing his arms. "Let's get going."

"But what about the story?" Percy asked me once we were off the bus.

"I'll… finish it later, at camp. 'Kay?" I replied distractedly.

He huffed, but nodded all the same. We didn't have to walk very far until Grover suddenly stopped.

"Alright..." He said cheerfully. "The camp borders is just down this path and through-"

He cut off abruptly, his eyes widening as he stared at something behind us.

"RUN!" he shouted.

We all started running, but I spared a quick glance behind us and saw one of the most horrible sights I've ever had to see. All three Furies, two Empousai, and what appeared to be at least five hellhounds were running towards us. Luckily they were in the distance, but they could all run faster than we can.

The furies had leathery wings like bats, claws, a mouthful of yellow fangs and glowing eyes. The empousai were in their true forms, with flaming hair, white skin, red eyes, fangs, one prosthetic bronze leg and one donkey leg, so their running was slower than the others.

It wasn't long before the monsters caught up with us. Luke had been pounced on by a hellhound, but stabbed the beast in its heart before it could do any real damage. We all turned around and grabbed our weapons. I used my knife this time.

I could see Percy and Annabeth slashing at the Empousai. Luke and Grover were working together against the hellhounds. One of the Empousai pounced and threw herself on Percy. Before she could do anything, I ran up and stabbed its spine, joining the fight.

I glanced at everyone else for a second, and noticed something weird. The furies weren't attacking. They stalked around the battle, as if looking for the best moment to strike. I took notice of everyone who was fighting. There didn't seem to be any major injuries. Only three hellhounds, one empousai, and the furies were left.

But, I spent too much time watching the others, as I felt claws dig into my unguarded back. I screamed, out of shock more than anything, as the fury dragged me away from the others. Luke, Annabeth, and Grover were to busy with the monsters to hear my scream, but Percy's head whipped around and his eyes widened as he saw me.

"NO!" he roared.

He ran forward and slashed riptide wildly, trying to kill the fury that had finally stopped dragging me. He swung the sword desperately again, and this time it went right thru the monsters head. I fell to the ground painfully and clumsily stood up just in time for the other furies to attack Percy and I.

I fought the hardest I've ever fought before. Sometimes I had to use lightning, but when I did, I began more and more tired. An exhausted fourteen year old and a seven\ year old kid is no match for two furies. I noticed that the furies weren't aiming to kill us, but to grab us. Maybe I was just seeing things.

One of the furies got to me again, but this time I managed to swing my knife right thru its neck. Unfortunately, while I was busy, the other fury had managed to grab Percy, and throw his sword out of reach. I knew it would come back to him, but he would be dead by then if we didn't do something.

As I ran forward with my knife at the ready, Gold light suddenly surrounded Percy, blinding me momentarily. When I looked back, Percy was gone. I stared in shock at the stop, until a strong, uncontrollable rage filled me. I grabbed my knife and stabbed the thing right in its heart. It was dust.

I whipped around and fought the rest of the monsters with my friends. They were all dust in a matter of minutes. We all collapsed, gasping and trying to breathe. Campers who heard the fight ran into the clearing and helped us stand. When Annabeth caught her breathe, the first thing she said was "Percy, are you okay?"

My heart sank. She must have not seen. Then again, she was busy fighting the hellhounds and empousai. Luke, Grover, and Annabeth looked around and yelled desperately for Percy.

"Thalia!" Luke called urgently. "Did you see him? Weren't you with him?" All eyes turned to me, and I felt my eyes sting.

"Yes…" I murmured just loud enough for them to hear. "Percy…"

And I fainted.

_~~''..-Percy Jackson and the Olympians-..''~~_

**Hey guys, so in the books, Chiron and Grover already knew that Thalia was a daughter of Zeus. But, as SeaChick pointed out to me, the summary states that Hades kidnaps Percy because he's a son of Poseidon, but not Thalia even though she's a daughter of Zeus. So, they tried to kidnap her, but couldn't.**

**I got a request for some more kid-style percabeth, so I tried to add some of that in this chapter. I got another request that Thalia tells Percy a Greek story. Thanks for the requests, and please give me more, I love to know what you guys want! A lot of you guys told me that Thalia was actually twelve, so thanks for telling me. With school starting, updates will take longer, but they should eventually become more regular. I just have to get my crap together first. And, the next chapter is really important to me, even though it'll probably be short.**

**P.s. - if you guys like Maximum Ride or Harry Potter, please check out my crossover**** 'Wizards Meets Mutants'.**

_**Summary- Max and the flock have more powers. They create an amazing, secret place for mutants to live and train. They've saved the world and are hiding peacefully. When wizards come asking for help, everything is changed. set during ootp after maxride series. Fax!**_

**Reviews**

_**SaradocCraver101**_**- Thanks a bunch!**

_**PJOBookWorm**_**- Thanks for the review! Sorry about the spelling mistakes. I go over my story but it's hard to fix them all. Thanks for the advice on changing POVs, I totally agree. Little fun fact; my page breaks are different each chapter, but are always in italics.**

_**SailorSea**_**- Thank you for taking the time to review, I'm super glad you like the story. I have lots planned for the future of this story :)**

_**IFoundAPickle**_**- Well, not all of them have gotten to camp :)**

_**SeaChick**_**- zomg, thank you… I never even thought about hades kidnapping Thalia. So, they tried to get Thalia, but couldn't.  
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_**CLARATHEBIGGESTPJOFAN**_**- I'm glad you like these little responses I have to reviews. Reviews mean the world to me and it feels good to talk to those who read the stories like this. Thanks for telling me about their ages, that was annoying me :) **

_**Too **__**Lazy**__** To Log In**_**- Was that an insult or a compliment? I mean, since you want me to update i guess it's a compliment…?**

**Thanks**

**SaradocCraver101, PJOBookWorm, SailorSea, IFoundAPickle, booklover98, banana lover, DIGIFAN99, I will be me, ducks-r-homicidal, storm46, fatesmask, The Goddess of Books, Shadow9, lilshortty2010, Slayer of Heroes, SeaChick, CLARATHEBIGGESTPJOFAN, WiseGirl77, Salamender**


	5. Wishful Thinking

**I don't own the Percy Jackson series.**

**The votes are in, and Nico and Bianca… Well, just read.**

**Luke P.O.V**.

The next morning they moved Thalia and I into the Hermes cabin. I felt my anger flare as I looked around at the sleeping bags on the floor. The cabin was old as crap, and looked like it was gonna collapse at any moment. The kids at the cabin were bitter, and depressing. Of course, they had a right to be.

How hard was it for the gods to talk to us, or at _least_ claim their kids! My thoughts continued like this, until I glanced over at Thalia and Annabeth. My anger left me and despair filled its place. They both had tears still on their faces, even though they continuously wiped them away. Thalia looked heartbroken, and furious. Annabeth just looked… lost.

The campers left us alone in the Hermes cabin as they went to do their daily activities. Technically, Annabeth was not supposed to be here. She would sleep in the Athena cabin, but for the next couple of hours, we needed her here. I think the campers knew that. Or, they just didn't want to deal with the kids who just lost their best friend.

Thalia hadn't said much since Percy died. (A/N as you should know, this isn't a deathfic.) I knew she blamed herself for what happened. I wasn't really sure what had happened during their fight. All I knew was that Percy was gone. Maybe it _was_ her fault, but I couldn't be mad.

I couldn't really tell what Annabeth was feeling. She seemed to be in shock. She hadn't talked at all since she got here. I don't know if she's realized that Percy died. She's smart, really smart, but she didn't look all that sad, or depressed. She hadn't cried at all. She just seemed… robotic.

I'm sure I looked like some sort of mix between the two, but I didn't really care. I couldn't believe the midget had gotten himself killed. I wasn't angry at him, not at all. But I couldn't let myself feel anything but anger. I couldn't just let my emotions free. I had to make sure the girls were safe, and I. So instead, I was angry.

I was angry at the world, at the gods, and at myself. I hated this! The gods ruined our lives! The gods abandoned us! The gods killed Percy! The gods, our _parents_! The rational part of me said being angry wouldn't help anyone. But I needed to stay angry. If I didn't stay angry I would cry, or scream, or punch every one of these stupid campers.

I wondered what Percy would think of all this. I knew if that energetic kid were here I wouldn't be able to stay angry. Percy just had the ability to make people smile, or at least not be as miserable, just by being in the room.

But I think he would be upset, and worried if he knew how sad we were. He would do whatever it took to make us smile again. He would tell us there was no reason to be upset, and that the world was still great. He would think it was funny that I wanted to punch the campers, but he wouldn't let me, not if I didn't have a good reason.

But it didn't matter what Percy would have done! It didn't matter what he would think! Because he _didn't_ know what was going on. Because he _wasn't_ here to cheer us up. He was in the underworld, with Hades! But he would have made Elysium; there was no way he wouldn't. Unless Hades punished him because of his father, he would be in Elysium. The gods _would_ do that. Thalia sighed stood.

"We should… talk to Chiron." She murmured.

I nodded and stood. We were almost out the door when I noticed that Annabeth wasn't following us. I turned around to see that she had stood up, but hadn't moved from her spot on the bed. She was staring at us in confusion.

"Where's Percy?" she asked simply. My heart sank as I looked between her and Thalia. Was Annabeth in denial?

"What do mean Annabeth?" Thalia asked in confusion. She looked back and forth between us, and tears formed in her eyes.

"I wanna see Percy." She said, the tears escaping down her face. "Where is he?"

My heart felt like it was being shredded as she sat down on the bed and sobs racked through her body. I immediately ran forward and put my arms around her. She buried her face into my neck and I fought tears myself. I expected Thalia to comfort Annabeth too, but she didn't move at all.

She was still standing in the same spot, her eyes seemed glazed over, and tears were threatening to fall down her face. I sighed, and felt a single tear escape my eye before I scrubbed it away furiously. I wanted to comfort them both. I also wanted for Percy to be here and happy. Two things that couldn't happen.

"Let's go talk to Chiron." I said softly into Annabeth's hair. She looked up at me, and she stopped sobbing.

"But… we need to get Percy!" she said. "And, we have to get his cabin ready for him… he'll need a place to stay when- when he gets back."

That seemed to get through to Thalia, as she ran forward and knelt on one knee in front of Annabeth.

"Annabeth…" she whispered hesitantly. "You know what happened to Percy, right?"

"No." Annabeth said sadly.

"Honey," I started softly "Percy's in the underworld now. The monsters got to him, remember?"

Immediately, she tore herself away from me and stood.

"No!" she insisted, shaking her head. "You're lying! He's just... busy."

It was almost impossible to hear her now. I knelt down and hugged her again, when suddenly the door banged open. One of the Hermes campers flew in, his hair disheveled and his eyes wide.

"You guys gotta come see this!" he panted heavily.

"If you can't tell," Thalia said coldly. "We're in the middle of something here."

But the guy was persistent. "Come on!" he insisted "This is huge! A god is here, and he's asking for you guys and Chiron! Chiron's already there but…"

We didn't stay to hear the rest, flying out of the cabin in seconds. We paused, then saw a massive crowd of campers and creatures standing by the lake. Once we were there, I pushed away some of the campers to get to the front. Right there, in front of the water, was Chiron and an unknown man.

The man had black hair, a neatly trimmed beard, sea-green eyes, a nice tan, and crinkles around his eyes and cheeks. He wore Birkenstocks, khaki Bermuda shorts, a shirt with coconuts and parrots on it, and a battered cap decorated with fishing lures which said "NEPTUNE'S LUCKY FISHING HAT".

Suddenly, I realized who he was. This was Poseidon, god of the seas. More importantly, Percy's father.

'_''' '''__ ''''''Percy Jackson and the Olympians '''' ''' ''' '''_

**Thalia's p.o.v.**

"Chiron." Poseidon said. "We must speak. With the others."

I didn't know what he meant. Chiron's face was grim, and he nodded, turning to the campers and yelling, "Go back to your training! Thalia Grace, Luke Castellan and Annabeth Chase need to come with us." They scampered off, but shot several glances in our direction.

"Let's go to the big house." He said to us quietly. We nodded, and followed hesitantly.

At the big house, we sat around an old pin-pong table. I guess this camp likes to be classy when they have super official meetings with one of the big three gods. For a couple of moments, no one said anything, until Poseidon spoke, addressing us.

"My son." He said quietly. "You saw what happened to him?"

"Yes." Luke answered bitterly.

I could practically hear the rest of his sentence. _Since when do you care?_

"Could one of you describe exactly what happened?" Poseidon asked.

"Now wait a minute." Chiron interrupted. I was surprised Poseidon didn't blast him. "These kids have been through a lot. Why make them relive it?" Before Poseidon could answer, I cut in.

"_They _are right here." I said dryly. "And everyone knows what happened. We were almost at camp. Monsters came. They got to us, to Percy. The end." _Percy's end._

"No." he said desperately. "I need details. Every little thing matters."

"It was horrible." Annabeth suddenly whispered from her spot in between us. "We were fighting the monsters, and Percy yelled something. Then, he was just gone… I don't know were he is. Thalia does though. She was there."

All eyes whipped to me, and I sighed.

"We were fighting the monsters and one of the kindly ones got to Perce." I said, as Poseidon looked down sadly. "It grabbed him, and there was just… golden light. Then, he was gone, and so were the monsters."

Poseidon's head snapped up and stared at me as if trying to search through my brain.

"Gold light? Are- Are you sure?" he whispered hoarsely.

When I nodded, his eyebrows pulled together and he looked deep in thought. I glanced at Luke, who shrugged. Chiron just looked like he didn't think he should be here. Annabeth's forehead was crinkled, and I could tell she was deep in thought, as usual.

"Percy's not dead." He whispered, just loud enough for us to hear.

At first I thought I heard wrong. But by the looks on everyone's faces, I knew that I heard right. Then I thought he was crazy. How could Percy possibly be alive? My confusion quickly turned into anger. How dare he? He wasn't even there, he didn't care enough to be there! I saw it myself, Percy died, and Poseidon had the nerve to say otherwise?

I glanced at Luke and Annabeth again. Luke was furious, and still depressed. Annabeth had a 'Well, duh.' look on her face, as if she had known all along that Percy wasn't dead, but there was still a sad sort of confusion in her eyes.

"What are you talking about, Poseidon?" Chiron asked sharply. Poseidon sighed wearily and rubbed a hand across his face.

"When the fury grabbed him, she didn't kill him." He said. "She took him."

"Took him?" Luke exclaimed. "What? Where?" He would have kept going, but Poseidon cut him off.

"The gold light." He explained. "The fury was taking him to a prison. More precisely; Hades' prison. The underworld."

I felt like a hand was squeezing at my heart, and there was clay in my throat. Could Percy really be alive? Was it possible, or just wishful thinking? I saw it happen with my own two eyes. But there was no blood or anything. I didn't actually see him _die_. What if I hadn't seen his death, what if I had seen his kidnapping?

"But…" Annabeth said quietly. "Why did Hades take him? Wouldn't Hades have just killed him?"

"I was wondering that myself." Poseidon said. "The most I can guess is that since killing Percy would just send him to the underworld, Hades decided that it would somehow be easier to kidnap him?" Poseidon shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe that's something you can figure out on your quest."

"Quest?" Luke, Annabeth, and I questioned at once.

"We need to get Percy freed." Chiron explained. "Gods can't enter other gods' kingdoms, but demigods can. Luke will be leading the quest."

"Well, Annabeth and I are still coming." I said.

"No." Chiron said, and continued over our loud protests. "Annabeth is too young, and it is too much of a risk to have Thalia out there!"

"You can't control what we do." Luke said through gritted teeth. "Percy's _our_ friend. _We_ will find him."

"Thalia." Chiron said, turning toward me. "Did the monsters specifically try to get to you too?" When I nodded, he continued. "That's because you're another child of the big three. Hades was trying to kidnap you too. Walking right into his kingdom is ridiculous."

"We'll discuss this later." Poseidon said. "Luke, do you accept this quest?"

Silence stretched for a couple moments, but after a nod from Annabeth and I, he agreed. He went up to the attic, and we waited, tense, for him to come back. When he did, he seemed pale, and his eyebrows were pulled together, like he was thinking hard.

"Luke." Annabeth said. "What did it say?" Luke looked around at us, then took a deep breath, and said:

"_You will take the children of the owl and the eagle,_

_And find the one who's life is illegal, _

_Two hidden secrets must be revealed _

_A prison being used as a shield_

_Two frozen lives that must reshape _

_To play a part in the prisoner's escape."_

**When i posted this chapter earlier it came up as chapter 2. Please note that this was a problem with and not me. Sorry for the problems.**

**Don't forget to check out the song for this story: ****Far Away by Nickelback**

**Reviews**** (For the last chapter and A/N)**

_**( )**_** - I'm super glad you think so!**

_**PercabethEternalLove**_** – I'll give you a hint; it's very similar to what happened to Percy's mom in the first book :)**

_**SeaChick**_**- I'm glad you like it. I was worried people wouldn't like that it was similar to the book. (P.S.- there's another response for you're review down there \/"**

_**IFoundAPickle**_**- You'll die of doughnuts? Alright then. This chapter isn't much but school started on Wednesday**

_**WiseGirl77**_**- Awwww, thank you! I'm really sorry it took me so long to post!**

_**starglow13**_**- This chapter isn't really interesting, but it felt so right to write :) I'm glad you like the kid percabeth!**

_**Son of none**_**- I'm super sorry about the typos! I hate typos, but it's so hard to avoid them :( thanks for the thumbs up!**

_**Gerson**_**- glad you want more :) I'm sure this chap was a disappointment, but it's so hard to get used to school again! Oh, and, technically I'm a dudett, but I think that's a stupid word. I call girls 'dude' all the time. Sorry, off topic. And, you're bored at night? I hate being bored… but it's better than being busy. You should write a story, it won't make you bored anymore.**

_**peacedog ()**_**-Thanks, sorry it took so long!**

_**CLARATHEBIGGESTPJOFAN**_**- Story thingy? Not really sure what that is, but alright then. :P I'm happy you like my story. I'm happy to tell you stuff about me, except for like where I live and stuff, 'cuz that's a huge no-no in the internet world :) But I can tell you that I'm a girl, and proud of it!**

_**SeaChick**_**- Thanks so much for reading and responding to the A/N. Most people don't even read them. I'm not gonna lie, Nico and Bianca will have to play a part in the story for it to work. If tons of people were totally against it, I would figure something else out. But, most people loved the idea. I have no idea how I'm gonna write Nico and Bianca though. :)  
><strong>

_**ADHD piggy**_**- Thank you for reading and reviewing the A/N, most people don't!**

_**starglow13**_**- I'm glad you're not in its path! Thanks for giving your opinion on the whole Nico and Bianca joining thingy. I'm not sure how it would've worked if I didn't bring them in, but I guess I would have figured something out!**

_**Mistdale**_**- thanks so much for your opinion!**

_**SailorSea**_**- thanks for the review! I hope the hurricane didn't affect you much.**

_**WiseGirl77**_**- thanks! What happened to Percy is pretty much what happened to his mom in the lightning thief. I hope the storm didn't affect you too bad!**

_**sweet-lovin-zombie**_**- I know, the earthquake was the freakist thing ever! I know it's kinda weird that authors ask readers what they want for the story, but I really had no intention of adding in Nico and Bianca when I started this story. I wanted some opinions, and I got a ton!**

_**artemishunter77**_**- thanks for the opinion!**

_**Gingers rock**_**- Thanks for the review. I don't know if I'm gonna make Bianca die in the story, I got a lot of reviews asking me not to kill her :)**

_**PercyJacksonfiend**_**- Thanks for the review, your opinion will be taken into account, it's actually a really good idea, but tons of people wanted both of them.**

_**()**_**- thank you so much! :)**

**Thanks**

**Hestia97, PercabethEternalLove, Towerprepfan, AnnabethKane, sushiroxsBD, MinSungOfCalamity, Bethy123, IFoundAPickle, Carolzynha LF, CitrusQueen44, WiseGirl77, starglow13, Gerson, narxxnes, The Moonlit Waters, Emily Key, peacedog (),CitrusQueen44, CLARATHEBIGGESTPJOFAN, SeaChick, ADHD piggy, starglow13, Mistdale, readingismylife16, k8ybug1, SailorSea, WiseGirl77, sweet-lovin-zombie, artemishunter77, Gingers rock, ****Magik Dreamer, PercyJacksonfiend, Kobra Kid96**


	6. A Dangerous Start

**If I owned the Percy Jackson series, I wouldn't be on fanfiction right now. No, Percy Jackson and the Olympian books and characters all belong to Rick Riordan.**

**Last chapter in 2011**

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**Annabeth's P.O.V.**

Percy's dad left right after Luke told us the prophecy. He said that he couldn't interfere with our quest -even though he wanted to- because Zeus wouldn't allow it. I couldn't believe how unfair Zeus was being. If he could help Percy, then why couldn't Poseidon interfere? We needed all the help we could get. Luke and Thalia had always talked about gods making mistakes, and for the first time, I agreed with them.

We stayed in the Big House all morning, talking to Chiron about the quest. He gave us mortal money, gold drachmas, nectar, and ambrosia "in case of emergencies". He made me eat a little bit of ambrosia, which healed my ribs almost instantly. He told us we would travel west, using whatever means of transportation possible. I had a few ideas. There were some buses in the area and a train station near by that we could use. We would also have to walk some. No one really minded: we had walked everywhere before we got to Camp Half-blood.

I suggested taking a plane, but Thalia refused immediately. I tried to talk her into it. A plane would be much, much faster. And we did have just enough money to get all of us there and back, including Percy. But she was stubborn. There would be no planes on the quest. I don't know why she cared so much, especially since she's a daughter of Zeus. But I let it go; we had more important things to worry about.

It all seemed so easy when you said it out loud. 'Just go to Los Angeles and get Percy'. But there were still so many flaws in the plan. How were we supposed to get in the underworld? If we did, how would we get to Percy? How would we get him out? Chiron told us that Percy would most likely be kept in a cell that was virtually impossible to get out of. There were no doors in the cell, he said, so only ghosts can get in and out. It seemed impossible that we would succeed.

But how could we not? Even if we failed this quest but still survived, Percy would be trapped in the underworld forever. And I refused to let that happen.

Chiron also said that, based on the prophecy, we would find things on our journey that could help us free Percy. But he warned us not to trust prophecies much, because they were usually unreliable. Still, we discussed the prophecy many times that morning. The second line suggested that we would find Percy, which lifted a huge weight off my shoulders. But the third line really bugged me.

_Two hidden secrets…_

What could that mean? What secret could be big enough to affect the quest? Who was keeping secrets? Not me. I had already thought it through and I was positive that I wasn't keeping secrets. At least, not secrets big enough to affect the quest at all. Somehow I doubted that stealing Luke's last piece of bread was such a big deal. Was Luke or Thalia keeping any secrets? No. They wouldn't do that to me or Percy. But then again, I had definitely caught them whispering to each other suspiciously a couple of times. But that must have been minor things, unimportant. There was no way either of them had anything to do with Percy being captured. I wouldn't believe it. But then who was keeping such big secrets? Chiron? The gods? It could have been anyone.

_A prison… used as a shield…_

A prison. That was so vague. There must be thousands of prisons from Greek myths. But since Percy was in Hades' prison, wouldn't that be what the prophecy meant? Was Hades' prison the prison of the prophecy? Probably. But how would a prison be a shield? Unless that was why Hades hadn't killed Percy. Maybe Percy has to be in the prison for it to become a shield. But how would that work? Who was it shielding? Hades? Persephone? And who or what was it shielding them from?

_Two frozen lives… must reshape…_

By this time I was so tired and confused that I didn't even bother trying to figure out the meaning of the fifth line. But I did notice the number two again. Could that have anything to do with the two secrets? Were the two lives the same as the two secrets? Could two lives even _be_ two secrets? Did any of this make sense?

_The prisoners' escape…_

The prisoner was Percy. The prisoner would escape. Percy would escape. I didn't care what Chiron said about prophecies often not being what they appear. I didn't care that I was supposed to take this with a grain of salt. We had to figure out what the two secrets were. We had to help the two lives reshape. We had to succeed in this quest.

Percy depended on it.

I forced myself to stop worrying about the prophecy. The quest should have been the first thing on my mind. After all, this was definitely the most dangerous thing I had ever done. I knew monsters would smell us, and come for us. That was guaranteed. Chiron also said that because we were at camp, our scents were now stronger. And if our scents were stronger, then monsters would be more attracted to us. Great. It was just what we needed. Note the sarcasm.

We were planning to leave tomorrow, so that we could get a good nights rest. I wanted to leave right away, but Chiron refused. Apparently we had a lot of preparing to do before we left. We got new camp clothes, showers, and fresh food. I really liked camp. _Percy will like it too._ I decided. _Mostly because of the free food._ That thought made me smile and want to cry at the same time.

I really missed Percy. I mean, we're best friends and all, but it was kind of more than that. He was the only person I knew that was my age and even if he could be annoying and as stupid as seaweed, he was really sweet sometimes. But he wasn't with me anymore. He was trapped in the underworld and was probably hurt and scared. I tried everything I could not to think about what he was going through. The underworld was the worst place in existence, and the best person in the world was trapped there.

_But he'll be okay because he's Percy, he's Seaweed Brain… he has to be okay._

"Whatcha thinkin' about?"

Thalia's voice brought me back from my musings and I looked up. She was standing behind me with a small smile on her face, but I knew it was forced. It never reached her eyes. She sat next to me and we stared at the lake. I liked this lake. It made me think of Percy. But it also made me mad. We should have been out there, starting our quest, not sitting on the ground in front of a lake at camp. But Chiron had insisted, so there we were.

"The quest." I finally answered. She nodded and put an arm around my shoulder. We sat in silent for awhile before I spoke.

"Where's Luke?" I asked quietly.

"In the training area." Thalia shook her head a little. "He likes it there too much."

I nodded, and we sat in silence again. Thalia sniffed a little and I turned to her in shock. Thalia hadn't cried since we were in the cabin, and I had never seen her cry before that. She wasn't actually crying, but her eyes were very shiny. She never cried; she never showed weakness. But now she was crying, and I was scared, and Percy was gone.

"What's wrong?" I asked, and immediately wished I could take it back. That was one of the stupidest things I had ever said. But Thalia didn't seem to mind.

"Aw, I just miss Percy a little, you know." She said. "And… this is so stupid but… I keep thinking about… this story I told him."

"What story?" I asked in confusion. I had never seen Thalia like this.

"I told you this was stupid." She said. "But on the way here, I told Percy the myth about Persues, the old Greek hero. But I never got to finish it. I promised him that I would finish it once we got here but…"

"He never got here." I finished quietly. "That's not stupid. A lot of people do things like that when they are upset. They think about less important things, to try and… I don't know… forget about the real problem?"

She shook her head, a sad smile on her face. "Yeah, I guess that's it. You're to smart sometimes, you know that?"

I nodded. "That's what Seaweed Brain says."

"Annabeth?" Thalia said suddenly, as if she had just realized something. "How did Chiron know that Zeus is my father?"

I stared at her for a moment before I remembered; Chiron had told Thalia that going on the quest would be too dangerous because Zeus was her father. But we had told Grover that we didn't know who Thalia's father was.

"We told him." I murmured. "After you fainted. Was that okay? Luke said it was okay to tell them, but if you didn't want them to know…"

"Yeah, it's okay." She said. "I just wanted to make sure."

The rest of the day seemed to crawl by. Mr. D talked about us to the rest of the camp during lunch, wishing us good luck. But he sounded sarcastic, and he got our names wrong. I really didn't like him. We packed our bags with as much as we could easily carry, grabbing a couple of other weapons from the camp weaponry. Finally, when it felt like the day would never end, we separated into our different cabins. Thalia went into Cabin One, Luke went into Cabin Eleven, and I went into Cabin Six.

I had a lot of trouble sleeping that night. The other children in the cabin ignored me, maybe because they were all older then me, or maybe because they were all buried in books. I didn't mind though, I wasn't exactly in a talkative mood. I didn't read before I slept, which was unusual for me. But I couldn't bring myself to do much of anything. I just stared up at the ceiling, dreading what would happen tomorrow, and wishing Percy was here. Gods, he would make fun of me so much if he could hear me. Maybe he could hear me.

_Percy, wherever you are, we're going to find you._

I was woken up extremely early next morning by another camper in Cabin 6. I got dressed robotically, not really focusing on what I was doing. I was nervous, and yet a bizarre sort of anticipation was also there. Today was the day. I was going to the Underworld. I was going to find Percy. Well, technically I wouldn't find Percy today, but I couldn't wait to get out there. Horrible scenarios of what could be happening to my best friend kept invading my thoughts and it was driving me crazy.

I saw Thalia and Luke in the Mess Hall. They looked as nervous as I felt. Mr. D stood up and everyone immediately quieted in fear of being skinned by Mr. D.

"Good morning brats –eh, campers." He corrected at Chiron's look. "As you know, today is the day three of you will be leaving on a very dangerous quest. We wish you good luck and fortune. May the gods be with you and give you strength and courage, blah blah blah. Don't get yourselves killed."

He sat down and a couple people politely applauded, completely used to Mr. D. Next, everyone went up to the front to burn their offerings. When it was my turn, I took a deep breath and scraped a couple sausages into the fire.

_Athena, anyone, please, help us get through this quest. Please help us finds Percy._

Everything I ate tasted like sand, but I managed to choke down a decent amount before the other campers went to do their daily activities. We went down to the edge of the camp, where Argus the security guard was waiting for us. Chiron was just a couple steps behind us, and he looked grim.

"What's wrong?" I asked him. He smiled at me kindly.

"Oh, I hate seeing campers leave." He said. "And I dearly wished that you could have been trained more."

"We're fine in that department." Luke told him. "We've been fighting monsters for years. That's a hell of a lot of training."

"It is." He nodded. "And I look forward to meeting Percy. He sounds like an, ah… interesting young man."

"He is!" I said. Chiron and I had talked about Percy a couple times, mostly because he just wanted to make me feel better. "But he's also kinda annoying."

Thalia and Luke both started laughing, and Chiron chuckled a little. Argus began walking towards us and looked at Chiron, which freaked me out a little.

"Ah, Argus." Chiron said. "Is it time to go?" Argus nodded, and Chiron turned to us.

"Argus will drive you to the bus station." He told us. "You'll have to go from there yourselves."

"We should take a train." Thalia said.

"No." Luke said firmly. "We need to save our money."

"We can jump on one." I suggested. "The ones that carry things to places. I read a book about a homeless guy who did that."

"That's what I meant." Thalia nodded.

"Alright." He sighed. "Let me check our maps, and I'll find the nearest train track."

"It's time to go." Chiron said.

I took a deep breath, and saw all traces of laughter and smiles leave Thalia and Luke. This was it. Argus didn't say anything, as always. People say he didn't talk because he had an eye on his tongue. I couldn't blame him for being quiet: I wouldn't say anything if I had an eye on my tongue. We drove with him for about half an hour, which was pretty long in New York City time. No said anything the entire ride.

At the bus stop, I noticed that Thalia and Luke were always standing right next to me. The looked around warily at everyone until the bus came. On the bus, they were both tense, looking over every passenger as if deciding on the best way to kill them. The never relaxed. At all.

We rode the bus for about an hour until we were out of New York City and into a rural town that I don't think I had ever seen before.

We walked from the bus station to the train tracks, listening to Luke as he guided us with the map. I stared down at me feet while we walked from field to field, coming across the occasional house. Everyone once and awhile I would notice a spider crawl across the ground at our feet. They always came for me, of course, but luckily they were small enough to get crushed under my foot. It took us about twenty minutes to find the tracks. By then I was tired and sweaty, and my mouth felt like it was sandpaper.

_Once the train comes. _I thought,_ then I'll ask for water. _

We walked along the tracks, waiting for the train to come.

About half an hour later, when I felt as if I was going to collapse from exhaustion, thirst, and heat, both Luke and Thalia tensed. I looked at them worriedly and saw them glancing behind me subtly. It did the same, and saw three men walking behind us. They might have been 17 year old kids, if they didn't have the biggest set of muscles I'd ever seen. They looked like they had spent their entire lives doing nothing but lifting weights, and they were bigger (but not taller, thank gods) then Cyclopes. Luke and Thalia casually moved to stand behind me, blocking me from the three men walking along the tracks.

The men stopped and I held my breath.

"Excuse me." One of them said to us. He was the biggest, and seemed to be the leader. I could see a tattoo on his biceps that said: _JB luvs Babycakes_.

Luke and Thalia turned around and looked at him coldly. They were always in between me and the other guys. "Yes?" Luke asked.

"Oh, we were just wondering why three kids are taking a train by themselves." The leader said. "You kids runaways?"

"Something like that." Thalia said coolly. She was twisting her bracelet around. It looked like a nervous habit, but I knew that she was just preparing to snap open her shield.

"Hey, no need to be like that." The leader said. "We were just wondering if you could do something for us once we send you to the underworld." He grinned. My blood ran cold.

"And what is that?" Luke asked angrily. All three of them grinned, and the leader spoke again.

"Tell Perseus Jackson that we said hi."

Just as he said that, all three of them began to grow. In less than a second, they were eight-foot-tall giants with wild eyes, pointy teeth, and hairy arms tattooed with snakes and hula women and Valentine hearts. Luke, Thalia, and I had our weapons out immediately.

"What are these?" I whispered.

"Laistrygonians." Luke murmured under his breath.

I nodded and tried to remember everything I knew about Laistrygonians. The laestrygonians (or _Laestrygones_, _Laistrygones_, _Laistrygonians_, _Lestrygonians_; Greek: _Λαιστρυγόνες_) were a tribe of giant cannibals from ancient Greek mythology. In the Odyssey, they ate many of Odysseus' men and destroyed eleven of his twelve ships by launching rocks from high cliffs. As far as I knew, no other Greek had ever encountered them.

I eyed their giant muscles and decided that this description fit them perfectly.

One of them waved his hand, and suddenly there were bronze balls the size of cannonballs all around them. I don't know why they decided to use bronze cannonballs as weapons, but these were not normal cannonballs. They were bronze, perforated like waffle balls with fir bubbling out the holes. They must have been searing hot, but the giants picked them up with their bare hands.

Suddenly I was on the ground, with Thalia on top of me. She stood up as soon as we hit the ground, and I saw a giant flaming hole on the ground behind me. They had thrown one of the cannonballs at me, and I hadn't even noticed. Yet Thalia managed to see it and throw me out of the way it time. _C'mon. Focus, Annabeth._

I jumped up, and immediately ducked. Another giant flaming bronze cannonball had almost taken my head off. For awhile, all we could do was dodge the cannonballs like crazy. I took a closer look at the flaming balls, and saw them begin to flicker. They seemed to be… grenades? It was obviously the work of The Mist.

"We can't keep dodging them all day." Thalia shouted as she threw herself away from another cannonball.

"I know." Luke gritted his teeth in concentration, dodging three cannonballs at once.

Suddenly, the cannonballs stopped. The giants were glaring at us. I noticed Luke and Thalia slowly begin to back up. I did the same, and then looked down. I nearly gasped; but caught myself just in time. The grass around us was non-existent. Massive craters in the Earth made me slip for a scary second, before I caught myself yet again.

The giant waved its hand and suddenly the ground shook ever so slightly. I jumped in alarm, trying to figure out how the giants were making the _entire ground shake_. But the giants looked as surprised and confused as I'm sure we did. We all snapped out of it suddenly as a loud whistle busted through my eardrums and I remembered.

_The train!_

The giants seemed to realize the same thing; their expressions grew furious and suddenly they were surrounded by firey cannonballs.

"Run!" Thalia shouted.

"No!" The leader yelled to his followers. "Don't let them get on that train!"

Thalia, Luke and I turned, running towards the sound of the train. We didn't even pause as Luke scooped up our bag, Thalia guarding him. There was one scary moment when a flaming cannonball came dangerously close to me, but instead hitting some poor tree next the tracks. The tree came crashing down in front of me, just barely missing the tracks, and I skidded to a stop just in time.

"Come on!" Thalia screamed, grabbing my arm and turning me around. Together we ran to Luke, who had his sword unsheathed. The giants were closing in on him, not even seeing us. They each had a fireball in their hand. Luke didn't look at us at all; I guess he wanted to make sure _they_ didn't notice us. But something distracted them before they could even glance behind themselves at us.

The train had come.

Now that we heard it, I couldn't understand how we hadn't noticed how close the massive whistle was, but I guess the roar of the flames around us had been too loud. Actually, now that my adrenaline was wearing off, I could sense everything: the intense heat all around me; the smoke burning my eyes and suffocating me; the minor wounds that covered my body; the roaring of both the fires and the train.

_C'mon Annabeth. Get it together!_

I forced myself to forget all of that, instead focusing on the giants that had decided to kill Luke before we got on the train. Thalia and I didn't waste any more time. We ran forward. The giant seemed to notice me as I got closer, but by then it was too late for him. He disintegrated in a couple of seconds. The other two whirled around and roared in fury.

Thalia raised her sword to strike a moment too late. The giant knocked the sword out of her hand as if it was a toy. He growled, and looked ready to pounce as if he was a lion. Just when I began to get over the shock and go _help her_, the monster froze. His eyes got wide, and he too turned to sand. Standing behind him, was Luke, holding Thalia's sword.

There was about a second of silence, before the final and biggest monster roared furiously. Luke wasted no more time. He ran forward, our bag still dangling from his grip. He tossed Thalia her sword and she caught it. The monster charged towards Thalia, and we fled.

"Get to the train!" Luke yelled, as if we needed to hear that.

We didn't have to run very far before the head of the train was in front us. But the giant was closing in on us too. It must have created more fireballs, because next thing I knew, the ground next to me exploded. I flew forward and fell on the ground, my body aching all over. Thalia and Luke skidded to a stop. They ran back to me, concern on their faces. The massive cloud of smoke behind me hid the giant from my vision.

"No!" I yelled to Thalia and Luke. "Go on! Don't stop running until you get on the train!"

Thalia and Luke ignored me, instead coming right up next to me and making sure I wasn't hurt. I started running again, knowing they would follow me. We ran with the train, trying to find an opening that we could jump into. But there didn't seem to be one.

I'm not sure when I noticed something was wrong, other than the obvious, but I soon noticed that there were no more fireballs coming at us. I risked a glance behind me, trying to see where the monster was. There was still a lot of dust blocking my view, but I could just barely make out the distinct outline of a massive figure charging towards us. But why wasn't it throwing cannonballs at us? What was it doing?

I found the answer soon enough, when a massive explosion sounded again. I gasped and stumbled, almost hitting the ground. Thalia and Luke didn't bat an eye. They didn't notice me stumble, and were soon far in front of me. I tried to catch up to them, but it was impossible. Another explosion.

_Why isn't it hitting us?_

I realized why when I dared to glance up. The bomb (cannonball, fireball, whatever they were called) was exploding directly above the train. _No!_

"He's trying to hit the train!" I screeched to Thalia and Luke.

They must not have heard me, but it didn't matter. At that point, Luke threw himself at an opening on the train. He was half on the ledge and half off for a few scary seconds, but then he pulled himself over. He put his hand over the ledge and Thalia grabbed it, pulling herself onto the train with his help. I was nearly caught up to them now, and I could hear the monster roaring furiously now that his prey was getting away.

Another explosion sounded and the ADHD part of my brain wondering what the conductor of the train must be thinking. But then I saw Luke's hand shoot out of the train again and I ran towards this new destination as fast as I possibly could. I caught up to them, and immediately lost my determination. Fear clouded my vision. How could I possibly get onto the train? What if I grabbed his hand and he let go? The train was moving too fast, I was sure I couldn't do it.

"Come on!" Luke shouted, and I saw panic on his sweaty face. Thalia was behind him, trying to catch her breath. "Grab my hand!"

"I can't!" I screamed, tears flowing down my face freely. "I can't do it!"

Another explosion. The monster was getting closer.

"Yes you can!" Thalia shouted at me. Was it just me, or was the train getting faster? "Hurry! Just grab his hand, you'll be okay!"

I hesitated for a second. The train seemed to be getting faster and faster. The monster was also getting nearer. Luke and Thalia were shouting at me, pleading with me to get on the train, their faces twisted and damp with sweat. Staring at Luke's desperate face, I took a deep breath and screwed up my courage as best as I good.

I reached out and grabbed his hand.

_````````07021996######### Percy Jackson and the Olympians #########07021996``````````````````07021996######### Percy Jackson and the Olympians #########07021996`````````````````_

**Percy's P.O.V.**

My sword was starting to get heavier. Or maybe I was just getting weaker. Believe it or not, fighting monsters can be fairly tiring, especially since I haven't exactly gotten a lot of sleep lately. I stabbed a hellhound once in the spine, but I didn't stick around to watch it die. Somehow I didn't think that would be a good idea.

Turning around, I swung my sword at the first monster I saw. It was a fury. She reacted quicker than I thought possible; grabbing my forearm, she tore riptide from my grip, and I barely had time to struggle before she started to squeeze my arm. I felt a warm, calm feeling creep up my arm and spread around my body.

Gold light suddenly invaded my vision, and I panicked. There didn't seem to be anything I could do. Riptide would take too long to come back to me and I wasn't big or strong enough to do any harm without a weapon.

_I'm not going to beat her._ I realized. _She won._

I managed to take one last look at the chaos around me; Thalia was staring at me in shock and horror. Luke and Grover were both fighting hellhounds. Annabeth was fight an empousai, but her ribs seemed to be causing her problems. I stared at Annabeth for another second, before the gold light and warm feeling swallowed me.

I was suddenly slammed into something hard and cold, before I realized that it was a marble floor. I went to stand, but my arms screamed in pain as soon as I put pressure on them. I gasped and fell forward slightly. There was no point in trying to stand again, my arms hurt too much. I felt tears sting behind my eyes. _Don't cry._ I thought angrily. _Luke wouldn't cry, he would find out what was happening. He wouldn't be scared._ But I was scared; I was terrified.

I tried to get my breathing under control, closing my eyes tightly. It smelled horrible in… wherever I was. It smelled like death and decay. I knew that smell more than I should. There was high-pitched, painful ringing in my ears, but I could still hear the sound of a woman talking. Her voice was too quiet for me to make out her words, but she sounded as if she was arguing. I looked up around me, and felt my blood run cold at the sight. No! _No no no no no no no no no no no no._

_This can't be happening…_

_````````07021996######### Percy Jackson and the Olympians #########07021996``````````````````07021996######### Percy Jackson and the Olympians #########07021996`````````````````_

**This chapter had many confusing parts. Please tell me what you think: too confusing? Too dramatic?**

**PLEASE READ:**

**Note that when I posted the last chapter, some people saw chapter 2, and some people saw the real chapter 6. This was a problem with the site, and it was not my fault. If you still can't find the real chapter 6, please send me a message and I'll send it to you over PM. **

**So, I was looking at my profile, and I just happened to glance at the summaries for my stories. I saw a typo in the summary for this story. *Face palm*. Eh, how embarrassing. Sorry guys!**

**This chapter makes me want to hit myself with a hammer. I must have re-written it over 30 times, at least. It just didn't agree with me. Mostly it was trying to think of a situation that Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke could get themselves into. IF ANYONE KNOWS OF MORE MONSTERS THAT I COULD USE, PLEASE TELL ME. Deciding what monsters to use was the biggest problem. Super sorry for the long wait; but at least it's out for New Year. Call it a late Christmas present, or an 'oh, shit, I am SO sorry for a long wait; here, take this chapter, take all of them'. But, hey, at least I updated at all, right? Hee-hee… please don't kill me…**

**I'm not answering reviews or anything this time because that would make the wait even longer. But I did read and appreciate them.**

**Happy New Year!**


	7. Pizza Zone

**I Disclaim.**

_$$$$0702070207020702^^-Percy Jackson and the Olympians-^^2070207020702070$$$$_

**Luke's POV**

Seven minutes, twenty-four seconds of Annabeth crying in my arms while Thalia tried to comfort her. It was so hard to forget sometimes that she was just seven years old. Two minutes and fifteen seconds of deep breaths and relieved sighs. We made it on the train. One hour and twelve minutes of planning our next move. We had sixteen minutes until the train stopped. Approximately ten minutes of walking to the nearest bus stop. Five minutes of waiting for the bus. About a thirty minute bus ride.

"I'm hungry." Annabeth whined once we had gotten off the bus. I grimaced and checked my backpack.

"Let's wait a little." I said. "We need to save our money."

Annabeth pouted and I felt guilty, I really did. The train ride had been hard for her and we have no idea what happened to the giants that had been chasing us. She was scared and tired; we all were.

"C'mon Luke." Thalia said after just one look at Annabeth's sad expression. "We're all hungry. We need to stop every once and awhile."

Both of their pleading eyes at once were too much for me. I gave in. We were in a busy city that I had never heard of before. It was like a mini-New York. Annabeth seem to be _craving_ extremely expensive Chinese food from every elegant place we saw. Thalia gently explained our little money problem to Annabeth, while I scanned the streets yet again for any sign of monsters. Nothing. This wasn't right… we had gone much too far without any monsters finding us.

"Luke," Thalia said from behind me. "I think I might have found a place."

She pointed to a cluster of tall, but run-down and abandoned-looking buildings and I first I didn't know what she was talking about. Then I saw it; a dirty and torn little menu was hanging outside a window and a barely-readable sign above the door read: Pizza Zone. While I considered it, Annabeth glanced at it for only a second before rejecting it.

"That place looks disgusting." She wrinkled her nose. "It doesn't even look like its open."

"Well there's only one way to find out." I said, grabbing her hand and walking across the street. "Besides, we've eaten at much worse places."

The place was a mess. Dirt and dust covered just about every surface, and for a second I wondered if Annabeth was right. The diner didn't seem to be open and running. Nevertheless, I pushed open the door (it split apart at it's bottom hinges with a loud CRACK! That made all three of us jump) and we walked in. The inside was tiny, and just as dirty as it had been on the outside. There were ten tables with three chairs around each.

"Alright, guys," I whispered, cautiously stepping forward. "Be on the look out for-"

"HELLO?" Annabeth asked loudly. The sound seemed to echo around the room. "IS ANYONE HERE?"

"Annabeth!" Thalia and I hissed at her, desperately trying to shush her.

But then we heard what sounded like another door opening from the other side of the room, and a giant man came in. He looked to be almost seven feet tall with decent muscles and sandy hair and brown eyes. He smiled at us when he noticed we were there, but something was off about his smile… or maybe it wasn't just his smile… maybe it was his entire face…

"Hello." Thalia said carefully. "We were just wondering if there was any place around here we can eat if we have little money."

The man's smile grew even larger, again making me feel as though _something_ was wrong with his face. I just couldn't tell what it was.

"Yeah!" he said happily, and I got the impression he wasn't the smartest of guys "We have food here! Very, very low prices. Yes!"

"Uhm, right…" Thalia replied, clearly thrown off by this man's attitude.

"What kind of food do you have?" I asked.

"Pizza!" he nearly shouted. "We have lots and lots of delicious pizza! Sit, I will make you pizza! Do you want the pizza?"

Thalia and I glanced at each other uncertainly. Neither of us wanted to trust a man we didn't know, especially one with such big muscles, but we needed to get some food at a low cost and we were wasting time while Percy was… doing… whatever he was doing.

"A-alright." Thalia stuttered. "Yes, please."

"Good!" The man bellowed just as happily as before. "Then you should sit! I will go make pizza!"

We sat down at what appeared to be the cleanest table, and I took out my map, scanning it to make sure we were going in the right direction.

"Thalia, what was wrong with that man?" Annabeth asked.

"What do you mean?" Thalia replied, even though she obviously knew.

"He talked funny. Like was stupid. And his face was weird." So I wasn't the only on who noticed. "Is there something wrong with him? Is his brain sick?"

She fired the questions off rapidly and I immediately regretted teaching her the basic idea of mental disorders. Still, Thalia looking that uncomfortable made me smiled widely, like I haven't since Percy disappeared.

"Maybe." Thalia said finally after glaring at me for a second. "Or maybe he just doesn't speak much English."

We waited for about half an hour, until finally I couldn't take it anymore.

"What the hell is taking so long?" I muttered angrily.

"I'm sure he'll be out with the pizzas soon." Thalia said soothingly, but all she did was make my headache worse. Annabeth nodded beside her.

"We don't have any time not waste." I said irritably. "Especially not waiting for food. Percy needs us."

As I said this, I immediately regretted it. Annabeths bottom lip started to tremble and Thalia wrapped one arm around her comfortingly. She shot me a glare promising me unimaginable pain if I said anything to make Annabeth feel even worse.

"Pizza is ready!" The man bellowed, storming back into the room with a large, stupid grin on his face. He was carrying a large pizza box that he set on our table.

"See!" Thalia hissed.

We flipped open the box and dug in for about twenty minutes and by the time we were finished we had only gotten through half the huge slice of pizza

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…" Annabeth moaned dramatically. I grinned at her.

"Like the pizza?" I asked and she nodded.

"How much?" I asked the giant man, mentally kicking myself for not bothering to find that out earlier.

"Five dollars!" he yelled happily, and Thalia dropped her slice of pizza in shock.

"Five dollars?" I asked, stunned. "For a giant pizza?"

There had to be some sort of catch. The pizza tasted incredible, and it was huge. There was no way this man sold it for five dollars, and yet owned such a dirty place. Something was wrong. But… maybe it wasn't… maybe the large man was friendly…. And just wanted to sell some pizza… I vaguely remember pulling out five dollars and handing it to the man without another word.

"I'm sleepy." Annabeth said, but there was something off about her voice. Her eyes drooped a couple times but she forced them open.

"Uhm, yeah…" I think I heard Thalia say. "Maybe we should find somewhere to take a nap… just for a little while."

The pizza man seemed about to explode with excitement.

"We have place here for you to rest!" he bellowed, just about shattering my eardrums. "We have room in back with sofas! Many, many sofas! And Pizza! We have pizza, too. What do you think?"

What _did _I think? That was very nice of the man. I was tired myself. A place to sleep, to take a nap, just for a little while: What was the harm? We had something we needed to do, I think, but it could wait. Something in the back of my mind was screaming at me. _Don't trust this man._ But that was just the back of my mind… that part of my mind didn't count… right?

We followed the pizza man through a few doors and into a long hallway. The man grabbed my arm and I sluggishly tried to move it away, but he kept a firm grip. I was so tired…

"Here we are!"

They had stopped at a simple wooden door at the end of the hallway. The big man, still grinning stupidly, opened the door. Annabeth, Thalia, and I stumbled into the room and looked around. _Huh. That's strange… There's no bed here… _In fact, the only thing at all in the room was a closet door.

"Where do we sleep?" I asked the man.

Something didn't feel right, in the pit of my stomach… I felt… something… the man didn't answer. Instead, he just went to the closet and rummaged around in it a bit… I was so… tired… why was I so tired? I didn't need a bed… I could just sleep on the floor…

Suddenly the man whirled around and laughed loudly. I covered my ears. It sounded like thunder. What was making the man so happy? And what was he holding? Was that rope…?

The man started saying something, but I wasn't able to hear what he said as my vision blackened and I crashed to the ground.

Yeah, something was definitely wrong.

_$$$$0702070207020702^^-Percy Jackson and the Olympians-^^2070207020702070$$$$_

**Percy's POV**

A beautiful woman and a not-so-beautiful man were arguing in front of me on some types of thrones. I was still sitting on the ground, trying to suppress groans of pain but it was hard.

I couldn't really remember what had happened, or why I was here. But I knew that this place was dangerous. Despite Annabeth's beliefs, I wasn't an idiot. Wherever I was, it was bad. I had to get out, and the woman and man just kept arguing.

"He is just a child! Do you have no morals at _all_?" the woman snapped furiously.

_Are they talking about me? _I silently wondered. _It sure sounds like they're talking about me._ Neither of them seemed to have noticed that I was awake.

"Morals! You dare question me about morals?" The man roared. "I am a god! Morals are for the weak! You hypocrite; you have murdered your fair share of children, and yet, you speak of morals!"

I felt my blood turn to ice. The man was a _god! _My situation had gotten ten times worse. Thalia and Luke thought the gods were evil. They talked about it all the time when they thought Annabeth and I were asleep.

"Yes I have! We both have." The woman replied "but I have learned from my mistakes! While you, you feel content to continue completely _screwing everything up!_"

"Poseidon has broken the oath! His child must die." The man said.

_No! _I almost screamed, but my throat was stuck. I had been in terrible situations before, but this was by far the worst. They were just going to kill me. No fight. No escape. No chance to save myself. Sure, I was just a kid, and this man was a god, but still, a fighting chance…

"Oh, please. A broken oath. Yes, that has _never _happened between the gods." The woman said sarcastically. "Let it go, Hades! Move on!"

Hades? Oh no. Hades was a really powerful god. Luke said he was one of the… what's-it-called… big three. Hades was one of the big three. That meant he was really powerful. And dangerous.

"I am letting it go. But first, I must make the gods and I even." Hades pratically growled. "Then we can all move on. But we will never be able to let it go with _him _and Zeus' _daughter _around. It's only because of those _STUPID FURIES _that the girl isn't here now."

_Daughter of Zeus? But that's Thalia! She's in danger! _I had to warn her. But how? I was trapped here… wherever this place was.

"Hades, all I want is to avoid another civil war between the gods. It was too much last time and… I can't go through that again. Please don't kill this child."

She gestured to me and Hades glanced over. My breath stopped. Hades' eyes flashed.

"This… _child_… is awake, Persephone." He murmured.

She looked over at me too.

**In answer to an anonymas question—Many people PM me, instead of reviewing. That's why you couldn't see people asking me about my age. I have no idea why.**

**You guys are making me feel so guilty! I will try so hard to not do this again. That hiatus was ridiculous and I'm so sorry! I don't understand why people want me to update so much I honestly can't read half my own story before deciding that I hate it. Even though it took me so long to finish, I think the last chapter was my favorite. Maybe that's why I got so many Alerts/favorites. Who knew how much people would like chapters if they were actually well written? Maybe I'll try it again sometime…**

**I promise, updates will be much faster when summer gets here.**

**If you have sneezed during the reading of this chapter, bless you.**

**Please Review!**

**Reviews**

_Reddiamond_- Thank you SO much for your list of monsters I could use. They really helped and the idea you mentioned for using the skeletons when they bust Percy out was perfect. I will definitely be using the list of monsters and the idea.

_catz r the all time best_- Thanks for the review! I didn't know there were so many ways to spell Laistrygonians either. Hell, they might not even be correct. If they are, blame wikipedia, not me :)

_Undy Pundy- _Thanks a ton for the kindness. Don't worry; I will definitely not give up on The Prisoners' Escape.

_Mybestfriendsahippogriff- _Wow, you're really smart! I didn't think anyone would figure that out! Shhhh, don't tell… ;)

_Retrobution- _Awww well now I feel guilty. So sorry about the long wait.

_hero of all- _ Thank you!

_Celestialstarynight- _Sorry about the confusion! I really tried to fix that but I obviously didn't. Hopefully this one was better.

_Ciel X- _Thank you Thank you Thank you! They were really helpful!

_slytheringirl4life_- Thank you!

_Not-a-mudblood- _Once again, I couldn't be more sorry for the hiatus! I won't ever discontinue this story. The other one… maybe….

_Mythologyrox- _I don't want to give away anything about the rest of the story but I will say that you are very smart. And sorry about the cliffhanger, I was debating on whether or not I should keep it like that and I decided to keep the cliffhanger. If I had had any idea how long the hiatus was gonna be, I would have _definitely _not ended it with a cliffhanger. So sorry!

_Dawn on fire- _I could not be more guilty about that super long hiatus. I don't even have a good excuse anyways, besides schoolwork. I can promise you though that I will try not to do this again. Sorry!

_Time Keeper- _Congrats. It was your review that finally pushed me over the edge and made me update.

**Thank you**

Reddiamond, Leaseablue, cherrytootsiepop101, XtwistedX, catz r the all time best, fatbublebunny132, mythologyrox, StoryGirl96, artemis lover, 1arigato, mybestfriendsahippogriff, troyellaforever123, Retrobution, BookWormLuvzPJO, hero of all, celestialstarynight, lcpham, Ciel X, slytheringirl4life, MiraSaya16, Not-a-mudblood, hotkittengirl, mythologyrox, Midnight Phantasma, Ninfa of the moon, Dawn on fire,


	8. A Hoarding Cyclops

**To Guest, Awesome Alert, dandelion379, and WeskerKing1—Sorry I do not know two of your actual usernames. Please note that it was your amazing reviews and favorite alerts all at the same time that gave me the inspiration for this chapter. Thank you so much**

_-()-()-()-()~~~~~Percy Jackson and the Olympians~~~~~()-()-()-()-_**  
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**Thalia's POV**

_My head must weigh fifty pounds. _I thought, trying to ignore the massive pounding in my skull. The first thing I noticed once I had successfully woken was that my arms hurt. The skin burned, and my muscles were sore. Ropes. I must have been tied to a chair.

The second thing I noticed was Annabeth and Luke each tied to a different chair. The third thing I noticed, which I probably should have seen first, was the Cyclops standing over a large cauldron. There was a fire under it, and something inside was boiling.

From what I could see, the Cyclops was putting something (spices?) into the pot. Bile rose in my throat. _He's going to eat us._ My breath hitched, and the beast made some sort of grunting noise in surprise. I closed my eyes and put down my head, feigning sleep.

I stayed like that for a few minutes, just in case. The Cyclops moved around for a while, but it was unclear what he was doing. Eventually, loud stomps and a slam of the door noted his departure.

My eyes snapped open. It seemed nothing had changed. Annabeth and Luke were still in their chairs, their eyes closed. I bit my lip. Luke's breathing was obvious; his chest rose and fell steadily.

But Annabeth's were shorter and shallower. Her body was too small to handle whatever was in the pizza. And Luke had eaten more pizza then either of us. It would be hell to wake him. But I had to try.

"Luke!" I whispered, "Luke, Wake up!"

He mumbled slightly, and his head lolled his other shoulder.

"Luke, please!" I whispered desperately, "I need you!"

Nothing.

I sighed and looked around the room for anything that could help. The room was barren save for the cauldron, and a long wooden table next to it. The table seemed to have… tools on it? Oh god.

_I'm gonna be sick._

The tools were more like utensils. Some were similar to what could be found in a typical kitchen. Others were not.

Besides the utensils, there was nothing in the room but us, the dust, and the wooden floorboards. I wiggled in my chair, trying to make as little noise as possible. The ropes were tied tight and I could barely feel my hands.

There was no way I'd have enough time to loosen them. I felt my back pockets as best as I could. The Cyclops had taken my weapons. But, I noticed, not my wristband. _Only I don't need a shield, I need a knife._

A knife.

_The utensils._

There was a large assortment of blades on the table. Out of the three of us, I was the closest, but there was no way I'd be able to scoot the chair over without making noise.

I squeezed my eyes shut and focused, trying to hear what the Cyclops was doing. After a few moments, I heard quiet, steady thuds. They seemed to get closer and closer, then back again.

_He's… walking around a room? _

Well, either way, he didn't seem to be close to the room we were in. I took a deep breath and pushed the chair slightly to the left. The noise, although I'm sure was small, sounded like an explosion.

My muscles protested the sudden, careful movements after being unconscious for so long. I held my breath and listened, but heard nothing different.

_Thud…Thud…thud…_

I clenched my muscles and scooted closer to the table. I was maybe six feet away. Annabeth and Luke hadn't stirred. Another push. The noise from the chair seemed to get louder each time and the floor was groaning. My legs were shaking with the stress. The Cyclops still didn't seem any closer to the room.

_Thud…Thud…Thud…_

I started to turn my chair around so that I could grab a blade with my hand. I pushed backwards again. The sound was quieter this time, but I felt the chair tip dangerously and I gasped loudly. Just when I thought there was no hope, the chair's front legs fell back with a loud BANG.

I held my breath. There was absolutely no noise. Even the Cyclops had stopped moving. Then I heard something collapse in the other room. A chair groaned. _The Cyclops sat down._ I let out a shaky breath and continued pushing myself closer and closer. Each time I would stop and listen for footsteps.

_Four feet away…_

_Three feet away…_

I started pushing my chair faster and faster, not even stopping to listen anymore. _So close, so close…_

_Two feet away…_

_One foot away…_

_So close…_

My hands hit the table and I flung them around desperately, trying to grab a blade. My left hand grabbed the handle of something that was definitely sharp. I turned the blade in my hand, trying to make sure I didn't drop it though my hands were sweating.

Panting harshly, I began to awkwardly cut the rope. Years seem to go by until finally I broke through one rope. I moved my hand around, trying to set it free when-

SLAM.

The Cyclops roared furiously when it saw me. It charged towards me and I slammed backwards into the table. Tools went flying everywhere but the Cyclops just shooed them away.

He yanked my hair put his ugly face right up to mine.

"No!" he barked angrily "You will be food! You stay!"

"Get away from me!" I yelled furiously, throwing my head around. But it's grip was like iron. It was no use.

The Cyclops roared again and grabbed my chair, pulling me closer to the cauldron. I screamed in pain and fear. We were getting closer and closer to the pot. He was going to boil me alive.

"No!" I yelled wildly, "Let me go! Get off of me! No! No!"

Obviously, it didn't work. He untied me from the chair, but kept the restraints on my arms and legs.

"Luke…" I heard someone whisper. Was it me? "Luke… Luke…"

I screamed, kicked, and hit everything I could but he just lifted me in his arms. I could feel the steam on me already. He pulled me closer to the pot. I screamed one last time.

But this time, so did the Cyclops. He roared in pain and dropped me to the floor. I gasped and rolled over to see… Annabeth?

She was kneeling next to me and cutting the ropes off my wrists with a knife. She was crying.

"Annabeth, how…. What….What did you do? What…." I blubbered.

She shook her head.

"Come on," she said, "We need to go."

Once we had gotten my restraints off, I stood and saw the Cyclops beginning to stand. A knife was stuck in his foot. _Annabeth stabbed his foot? Unless Luke did…_

But Luke was still in his chair, unrestrained, but clearly just beginning to wake up. He blinked wearily and mumbled something, looking around.

I stood up and grabbed Annabeth's hand. The Cyclops was still roaring. We grabbed Luke and stumbled through the door just as the monster stood.

"Here!" Annabeth shoved a broom into my hand and I pushed it through the door handles.

"It won't hold him for long." I said. "Come on."

We ran down the hall but stopped. There was a hallway to the left, and to the right. I couldn't remember which we had come down.

"This way!" Annabeth said. She sounded so sure that I had no choice but to follow.

We heard the door explode open, and the Cyclops began tearing through the hall. We kept running, but he was getting closer to the hallways' intersection.

"Hide!" Luke whispered, and came to a stop. "Here"

He opened one of the many doors in the hallway and we ran in, closing the door as quietly as possible. We held our breath and heard the Cyclops stop. There was a pause, and he ran down the same hallway we had. He stopped right outside our door.

_Our scent!_

We backed away from the door carefully, and, to our great surprise, we heard the Cyclops roar angrily and stomp down the rest of the hall.

"Whoa!" Luke suddenly gasped.

Annabeth and I turned around and I almost had my finger to my lips when I froze. All around us was thousands and thousands of… junk. But not normal junk. It was the type of junk seen lying around camp Half-Blood. It was piled on the floor and on storage shelves.

An old bag of ambrosia; a broken sword; a shield; Glittering lipstick of Aphrodite, said to be made by the goddess herself; a rusted knife; two shining arrows, both broken; a purse bearing the symbol of Hestia; a spear with a boar etched into the side; and a whole bunch of other stuff.

"What _is_ it?" Annabeth asked.

"This is all from other demigods. It's, just their… stuff." I murmured, looking around the shelf.

"The real question is; Why is it here?" Luke asked.

Suddenly, Annabeth gasped and jumped back "Oh my gods!" she nearly yelled.

Luke and I had our sword out in less than a second. I looked at the shelf to see what Annabeth had seen, but nothing was there. Then, I saw it. My blood ran cold.

"Luke, look." I pointed to The back of the shelf. A wire was strung between the two sides. On, the wire was at least fifty beaded necklaces, Some of them were filthy. Some had several beads, other just a few. They were all from camp Half-Blood.

"The stuff here…" Luke whispered, his eyes wide, "It's not junk. It's the Cyclops'… prizes."

Suddenly, I felt sick.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "That the Cyclops just kept all the demigods' stuff? The half-bloods he murdered?"

"Some of this stuff must be hundreds of years old!" Luke said, examining a dusty book.

"And there must be hundreds of stuff here." I whimpered. "How many demigods has this monster killed?"

"A lot." He said curtly. "But no more. Annabeth, are you ok?"

We both turned and saw Annabeth taking deep breaths. Tears tracks were on her face, but she didn't seem to be crying anymore.

"Here" Luke handed me a glowing tube. "Burn cream, made by and for Apollo's children." He paused, and glanced around the room. "But something tells me the owner won't mind. Put it on your wrists. We can't fight like this."

I rubbed it on mine and Annabeth's rope burns. We handed it to Luke.

"We need a plan." Annabeth said. She had calmed down completely, but now refused to even look at the shelves.

Suddenly, a loud crash sounded behind us. We turned to see the door smashed open, and the Cyclops standing in the doorway.

"Attack plan occultus." Luke whispered.

Plan Occultus was a strategy we had learned at Camp Half-blood. It was the best strategy for this situation, but it required a ranged weapon, and none of the ranged weapons in the room were powerful enough. Also, it meant Luke had to hold his own against the Cyclops for a while.

On the plus side: The Cyclops was injured from Annabeths' knife.

On the down side: The Cyclops was way too strong to be taken down with one stab, or even a couple.

Annabeth and I ducked behind one of the shelves. Luke grabbed a sword from one of the piles of junk, and pointed it at the Cyclops' throat.

"Get away from us!" He shouted. "What are you doing here?"

_He must be stalling…_

I whipped around and sunk to one knee. I grabbed Annabeths' shoulders and leaned in.

"We need to find any sort of ranged weapon. But it _needs _to be special, and powerful." I barely breathed it out.

She nodded, determined, and I thanked the gods she was so different from normal kids.

"Stay hidden." I told her, and then slowly rose up again.

Through a gap in the shelf, I could make out part of the room. I saw a javelin that looked promising, but I wasn't certain it would be powerful enough.

I felt Annabeth tap my shoulder and signal that she was going around to the back of the room. She would be completely unprotected for about three feet, right in the Cyclops' line of sight. I held up a finger for the universal symbol of wait, and watched the Cyclops.

"Demigods smell so good!" He roared, spraying spit in Luke's' face. "Not as tasty as Satyrs, demigods! But still so good!"

He took a step towards Luke, and Luke back up, but thrust the sword forward, closer to the Cyclops' face.

"Alright, alright, fine." He said. "But why did you keep their stuff here. What's the point?"

The Cyclops smiled, he seemed amused by the question.

"Sell! I sell!" he practically cheered. "The economy is tough, but everybody's looking for more supplies! These demigods took their stuff for granted, but now I can sell it and buy pizza! Lots and lots of pizza!"

"Who would buy things from fallen warriors?" Luke asked.

His eyes darted over to where I was for a second. They said one thing: _Hurry._

I looked around desperately, and eventually saw exactly what I needed. A glowing bow and matching quiver sat on a storage shelf about fifteen feet high. It was on the top row.

I've been a half-blood for a while, and it's hard to be friends' with Annabeth without learning a thing or two. And one thing I was sure of was that the bow and arrows was blessed by Artemis.

_But arrows blessed by Artemis can only br used by eternal maidens; or those destined to be one of her huntresses._

"Oh, _everyone _in Olympus loves the supplies!" the Cyclops grinned. "Minor gods and nymphs are my two favorite species of customers."

"But most of this stuff is broken!" Luke shouted. How much longer could he keep stalling? "It's crap! How could you sell it?"

The Cyclops frowned angrily.

"That doesn't mean it can't be fixed!" he yelled. "And sometimes… I like stuff, okay? I just don't always want to get rid of it!"

_Oh, come on… A hoarding Cyclops? What's next, a monster selling mattresses?_

The Cyclops took another step towards Luke, and he backed up. A loud snapping noise then burst of energy went through the room. A broken bottle lay under Luke's foot. Some sort of potion was oozing out of it.

"That was going to be sold today!" the Cyclops roared "How am I going to explain this to nemesis when she arrives?"

The Cyclops lunged at Luke and he ducked around it. He swung at the monsters' shoulder, but the Cyclops slammed a fist into Luke's jaw. The sword still managed to hit its shoulder though, and the monster roared in pain. Luke backed up, and they continued fighting.

"Annabeth." I pointed at the top shelf. "I need to get to that bow and arrows. Give me a boost."

She glanced at the shelves, and was about to protest, but hesitantly put her hand out. I grabbed onto a shelf and put my left foot in her hand.

_One, two, three, up!_

I managed to hold onto the ledge, but my grip was slipping fast, and I wasn't sure how much weight this thing could carry.

I heard Luke gasping pain on the other side of the shelves, but my vision was blocked by supplies. I grabbed onto the handle of a book bag a few feet above me, and used it to propel myself upwards.

_Don't look down. Don't look down._

I couldn't help but imagine me falling. Over and over again my head came up with more painful ways for me to fall. I grabbed another shelf and pulled myself up. My hands were covered in sweat, and I started slipping almost immediately as I grabbed onto another shelf.

_Come on, not far now._

Finally, I threw my arm over the quiver and bow. But I couldn't pull it down without knocking down a large glass vase full of some green liquid.

I grabbed onto the top shelf and pulled myself all the way up. There weren't many objects on the top shelf, so there was just enough room for me to maneuver onto my knees. I grabbed the bow and arrows.

I nearly fell off when I saw Luke and the Cyclops.

Luke had blood covering the left side of his face. His jaw was a strange color and both of his eyes were swollen. He held the sword with his left hand, his weaker one, and his right arm dangled uselessly on his side. His legs wobbled as he backed away from the Cyclops. He looked one blow away from being killed.

The Cyclops looked pretty down too, but not nearly as bad as Luke. It roared, and slammed its hand to the side of Luke's head. Luke crumpled into stack of letters. The pile fell with Luke, and he stayed down this time. I notched an arrow and took aim, but had no clear shot of his eye.

_C'mon,_ _C'mon, turn around…_

The Cyclops grabbed a club off a pile, and held it over his head.I decided it didn't matter anymore. I just had to get his aim off of Luke. Even though it would get me killed, I prepared to fire, but was interrupted by a "HEY!"

The Cyclops froze and grunted stupidly. He turned around just as I did to see Annabeth. She was standing at the doorway, holding her knife with a fierce look. The Cyclops laughed and seemed to forget all about Luke.

I opened my mouth to shout at her, to get the Cyclops' attention away from her, but she yelled: "Now!"

All at once I realized what she was doing and felt like an idiot. I pulled my arrow back as far as it would go and felt the warmth of Artemis' blessing.

_Only a maiden destined to be a huntress can use a bow blessed by Artemis._

I fired at the still stupidly-grinning Cyclops. It hit his pupil, and he roared in pain, clutching his eye. His entire body seemed to glow like the moon from Artemis' blessing. With his many wounds, battle exhaustion, and Artemis' blessing, he didn't stand a chance.

I hopped from the top shelf, back down to the floor, just as the Cyclops turned to sand.

_-()-()-()-()~~~~~Percy Jackson and the Olympians~~~~~()-()-()-()-_

**Annabeth's POV**

We ran/stumbled out of the door of the pizza place after getting Luke enough Ambrosia and Nectar, and getting as many supplies as we could. He still didn't look as healthy as he usually did, but none of us looked healthy anymore.

It was dark and clear outside. The moon was a creasant, I noticed drearily. I wasn't sure where we were going, but Thalia seemed to have some sort of plan, and I didn't have the energy to ask.

"Okay, let's rest for a few minutes." Thalia suddenly announced.

"I think there's a park up ahead." Luke said, pulling his map out of his pocket. "Just turn left up here."

We did, and were pleased to found an empty pavilion. We just sat on the dirty ground, propped up against some of the pillars, and rested.

"So." Luke said after we had rested for a few minutes. "What –_exactly_- happened back there?"

Thalia started telling him the story, but stopped at the part where the Cyclops came in.

"I actually don't know what happened next." She said, looking at me. "Annabeth, how'd you stab his foot?"

"I just did." I said. "He didn't take my knife away, so I just cut up the ropes. When he was busy with you, he was distracted enough for me to sneak up on him."

"Maybe he just didn't think a seven-year-old would have a weapon." Luke said. "Stupid. You're a demigod; of course you would have a weapon."

"Well, obviously he was stupid." Thalia replied. "Cyclops' aren't exactly known for their brains, no offense to lord Poseidon, of course."

But I noticed she said it with some bitterness, as if she didn't mean it. I wondered what that meant. Luke and Thalia did that often when they spoke about the gods. Luke interrupted my train of thoughts.

"Alright, so what happened after that?" He asked.

We continued telling him the story up until that storage room place.

"That place was creepy." I shivered.

"Yeah, no kidding." Thalia snorted. "A hoarding Cyclops. What the Hades?"

"Monsters are getting weirder and weirder." Luke agreed. "I just can't believe there was so much stuff. That Cyclops must have been killing people for a long time. And yet _we _managed to stop it."

"Well, Thalia did actually." I said proudly. Thalia blushed.

"It was nothing." She insisted. "_You _caused the distraction, Annabeth. And Luke stalled it, and wearied it down enough so a single bow could kill it. I'm just grateful the bows were blessed by Artemis."

I sat up from my resting place and Luke's eyes widened.

"Whoa, What?" Luke asked, surprised. "They were blessed by Artemis? That's impossible!"

"Bows blessed by Artemis can only be used by eternal maidens; her own hunters." I agreed. "You _couldn't _have fired those bows."

"That's just a legend." Thalia said uncomfortably. "It wasn't right. Myths are proven wrong every day."

"They can also be used by someone _destined _to be a huntress." I said worryingly. "Not just by the hunters of Artemis."

There was a tense silence for a moment, before Thalia spoke. Her voice was hoarse.

"Look, I'm not going to join the huntresses, okay?" She chuckled humorlessly. "As if I could ever live without Percy or Luke. It was just a stupid myth. Now let's move on."

We continued filling Luke in on the tale, on how Thalia climbed up the storage shelf and shot the arrow, and the monster died. Eventually, I let Thalia take over the story. My own twirling thoughts were distracting me too much to listen.

My heartbeat was starting to speed up, even though we had been fine for a few minutes. My breath was also starting to get shorter. _Symptoms of shock._ My brain informed me helpfully.

_Well, that's good to know._ I thought back.

Wow. Arguing with myself. I'm turning into Percy. My heart seemed to hurt even more. I had been trying to focus on the quest, but it was hard not to think about him. He was the person I usually went to first. He was closest to my age, but he was also just, special.

What's happening to you Seaweed Brain?

Even though we were still resting, my heartbeat never slowed down. If anything, it sped up, and my breathing got faster and faster.

"Okay." Luke said a few seconds after Thalia had finished the story. I was pulled out of my thoughts. "We need to plan our next move."

"Well, one of the bags in that storage room had money." Thalia said. "We have enough for a train, and there's a station about four miles from here. Wanna walk or take the bus?"

"Do we have enough money for the bus?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Thalia said. My heart started beating even faster with the thought of moving from my spot.

"Alright then we can take a bus for a few miles maximum," Luke said conversationally, "The there are some more train tracks nearby, and now that we can afford an actual ticket-"

"Can't we just rest?" I said exasperatedly. Luke and Annabeth paused for a moment to stare at me like they were surprised I was there.

"Annabeth…" Thalia started slowly. "What's wrong honey?"

"What's wrong?" I exploded, "Everything! We can't go anywhere without getting attacked by monsters, we finally got to Camp Half-Blood but we're back on the run _again_, and Percy's-" I faltered, "Percy's not even _here_. What _isn't _wrong?"

I was annoyed to feel tears running down my cheeks by the time I was done. Thalia and Luke glanced at each other, and I felt like a small child being coddled by her parents. Sometimes I think they forget that I'm still seven.

"Ok, first off: Percy is going to be fine." Thalia said. "You have to remember _why _we're doing this. We are not _'on the run'_; we are on a quest. We are going to save Percy."

"I- I _know _but h-how could we _possibly _make it there?" I sniffled, "We keep getting attacked."

"Then let's stop." Luke said.

"You don't mean _give up_, right?" Thalia asked, surprised and angry.

"No. I mean take a break." He replied easily.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

He pulled a small card out of his pocket and tossed it to Thalia. She grabbed it and studied it closely before looking at Luke suspiciously.

"I found it in that storage room." He said casually. "I thought it looked promising."

"Absolutely free?" She asked cautiously. "It sounds too good to be true."

I grabbed the card out of her hand and looked. It was a business card from a place that wasn't too far from here.

"It's exactly what we need." Luke insisted. "One night, just one night. Sleep. Rest. Prepare and plan. We need it."

"I want to go." I said quietly. "We can't save Percy if we're worn out. And it's only _two_ miles from here"

Thalia seemed to think about it for a minute, and then sighed.

"Okay." She said. "But we are _not _staying for long!"

"Then it's settled." Luke said. "We're going to the Lotus Hotel and Casino."

_-()-()-()-()~~~~~Percy Jackson and the Olympians~~~~~()-()-()-()-_

**Hiatus: over! Personal reasons made it nearly impossible to update but I've gotten a lot of things figured out and I want everyone to expect faster updates. I hope everyone has electricity. I lost power for a long time, then got it back, then lost it again then got it back for a week or two, then lost it, and now it's back, hopefully for awhile.**

_I can't respond to every review, for sake of time, but a couple reviews caught my eyes._

_To Stalker111—I'm sorry, my name isn't Adam and I don't know who he is. I hope you fin d him!_

_unknown lunatic—I like hearing that I'm not alone in my writing problems :) I really do hope that your writers' block is cleared though!_

_Time Keeper—But I love hearing from you guys! I am terribly sorry that you had to wait so long._

_**Please Review.**_


	9. A Bow of Artemis

**I would like to stress even more than usual that I do not own Percy Jackson. Certain quotes are taken exactly from the original Lighting Thief because it ties in with the plot. These quotes will be marked with a ***

_!;;;`~`~`~`~======Percy Jackson and the Olympians======~`~`~`~`;;;!_

**Percy's POV**

I hate ghosts. And Hades. And small rooms with no doors or windows. Like the one I was trapped in.

The interesting/annoying thing about being imprisoned in the underworld is that there is literally no way out. I'm still not completely sure how I got _in _this room.

When Hades and Persephone saw me, Hades snapped his fingers without a word, and suddenly there had been two ghosts right in front of me. They must have done something to me because next thing I knew; I was sitting in a door-less, window-less room.

Once I had successfully woken up and realized where I was, I began to panic. I was in the Underworld. _The Underworld._ Did that mean I died? But I didn't remember dying. It was all a little fuzzy, but I remembered the Furies, and Hellhounds, and Annabeth…

In fact; just _what _happened to Annabeth, Thalia, and Luke? Where were they? I don't know how I would've moved on if they were hurt. Especially Annabeth. There had always been an unspoken rule between us, that we protected each other. Even when we met Luke and Thalia, we were still closer to each other. She already had broken ribs when the fight started. What happened to her?

What happened to me?

I stared at one wall in the prison and tried to calm my breathing. Think like Luke would. I needed to figure out what was going on.

I decided to rule out death. I had heard of The Underworld from all those legends Thalia told me. And it wasn't just a room. There was supposed to be lines and judging and three headed dogs. Plus, I felt pretty solid. Which I hope meant that I wasn't dead.

I could have just been kidnapped. But why would Hades want me? Thalia and Luke said that monsters came after me because I was the son of Poseidon. They said I could never tell anyone who my father was. But they had told me that the gods would want to kill me if they knew. Not kidnap me.

I tried to think of every Greek legend I knew. How did the heroes always escape? I'm pretty sure there were no stories of heroes trapped in stone rooms with no door. Great. Maybe that'll be my story. Not to self: write autobiography ASAP.

I groaned. Here I was, sitting in a prison, thinking about writing a book.

Frustrated, I took out riptide and slashed the walls. Sparks flew, but that was it. Surprisingly, that didn't help. I walked back to the center of the room and sat down, putting my head in my hands.

How was I going to get out of this?

_!;;;`~`~`~`~======Percy Jackson and the Olympians======~`~`~`~`;;;!_

**Luke's POV**

Thalia, Annabeth, and I practically dragged ourselves to the Lotus Hotel and Casino. We were all still exhausted, but somehow the thought of an actual bed gave us the strength to continue.

When we were just a few feet from the hotel, we were stopped by a tall man in a suit. He had a large, fake smile on his face that screamed employee.

"Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?*" he sounded like he's said it a million times.

No one seemed to be going in or out the hotel. Now, even though this guy seemed insanely creepy, I doubt monsters would have created a huge hotel: it would have been noticed.

"Yes, please." Thalia thanked him.

He led us inside, but we stopped. One of us gasped. I really hoped it wasn't me. The inside of the lotus hotel was even better than the outside. It was like heaven. The lobby was a massive arcade. But it wasn't some dinky arcade on the corner of the street. There was a water slide, and bungee jumping and waitresses serving all kinds of food.

The man turned back to us, and for a second I wondered how I thought he was creepy. He did not seem creepy anymore. He just looked like a kind man giving us a free room.

"Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key.*" He said, and handed us the key. "Just go on up to the top floor, room 4015. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your Lotus Cash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."

Again, I got the feeling he had recited this many times. But before I could think more about it, he handed me three plastic credit cards.

"But… we haven't paid for the casino." I stammered. "We were just here for the one-night free room thing, on your business card. It didn't say anything about using the games."

"Well, of course the games are included in the free rooms." His smile seemed to get even larger. "No extra charge."

Before any of us were able to comment, he turned and walked away, speaking to some other employees.

We went up to our room, and saw that it was just as incredible as the rest of the hotel. There were three separate bedrooms, several TVs, lush sofas, and the fridge was stocked with as much junk food as we could ever hope for.

"This place is _awesome!_" Annabeth said excitedly.

Strangely, all of her exhaustion from just a few minutes ago was gone. In fact, I had expected to walk into the room and crash on a bed, but all I could think about was that game room.

"Well, I guess we should get some rest for tomorrow…" Thalia said uncertainly.

"But I wanna play games!" Annabeth begged, "Please! It won't take long, I promise. Just one game?"

Thalia's defenses were slipping away quickly. "Ok… I guess _one _game will be fine. But not for long. We really do need some rest so we can find Percy. Is that okay with you Luke?"

_Percy._ That name jogged up something within me. I was suddenly reminded why we were here, and what we were doing. The quest. Finding Percy. In all the excitement, I had nearly forgotten.

"Uh, yeah." I said, "Sounds fine. Annabeth, make sure you stick with me or Thalia down there."

She nodded excitedly, and we practically bolted down to the game room. I guess Annabeth had decided to stick with Thalia, because after a few rounds on the sharp-shooting game, I noticed that I was alone. I also seemed to have completely forgotten about the "one-game only" rule. Later, I noticed Annabeth by herself, playing some sort of virtual rollerblading game. It wasn't until much later that I realized how dangerous it was for her to be alone.

Over the course of an hour, I managed to snowboard virtually, get in four rounds of skeet-ball, and lots of time on the FBI sharpshooter game.

In fact, it was during one of the sharpshooter games that I heard it. A voice, in my head. An ancient, and powerful voice, saying my name; _Luke, wake up. You and your friends are in danger. Remember your quest. Remember your duties._

The next thing it said nearly made me drop to my knees in shock as the memories hit me like a train.

_You will take the children of the owl and the eagle,_

_And find the one, whose life is illegal, _

_Two hidden secrets must be revealed _

_A prison being used as a shield_

_Two frozen lives that must reshape _

_To play a part, in the prisoners' escape._

I gasped and yanked my hands away from the game as if I was burned. We had a quest. We were going to the underworld. We had to find Percy. I had to think hard for a scary second to remember who he was.

He was Percy. The little kid we travelled with. Poseidon's' son: Annabeth's best friend. Practically my little brother. Percy: who was funny and always smiling and kind to everyone and was trapped in the underworld while I was here playing games. _How could this have happened?_

I looked around frantically for Thalia, calling out her name over the noise. But it was too loud; there was no way she could hear me.

Finally, after searching for what seemed like (might have been?) hours, I found her playing some sort of puzzle game.

"Thalia!" I called, relieved.

She ignored me, staring at the screen. I tapped her shoulder a few times and eventually she looked back at me, annoyed.

"Go away!" she said angrily, "I'm busy!"

I grabbed her shoulder and put my eyes directly in front of hers.

"Thalia, snap out of it!" I said, shaking her a bit. "Wake up!"

"Luke, what are you talking about? Let me go!"

She started to twist out of my grasp, but I just held her tighter. I looked around desperately, and got an idea.

"Fine!" I said exasperatedly, "But I was just trying to show you a cool game!"

She relaxed slightly and seemed to finally notice me properly. Sort of. Her eyes were still huge and glassy.

"Game?" she said dazedly. "Show me!"

"Right this way." I said.

I pulled her down to one side of the game room and up some stairs. There was a huge line of people waiting, but when I pushed past them, they did no more than yell at me for fear of losing their place in line. They all looked nuts. When we got to the top, a woman was waiting for us with a huge fake smile.

"She's going, but not me." I said quickly. "But it's gotta be fast. We're in a bit of a hurry."

"Of course." The women smiled and helped Thalia into a harness, explaining to her the basics of what to do.

Thalia nodded along, still seeming too excited about a different game to think about what was happening. She stepped onto the platform looking over the game room, but froze before she jumped.

The women seemed unfazed by Thalia's hesitance. She stepped forward, and said soothingly: "It's alright dear. The harness will catch you. There's never been an injury before!"

But Thalia didn't seem to be listening anymore. She was breathing harder and harder as she stared down the huge height. After a few seconds, she gasped and jumped back.

"No!" she gaped, and started pulling on her harness frantically. "No! Get me off this thing; I'm not going! I'm not jumping!"

I ran forward and yanked the harness off of her. She stared at me, and I noticed that she seemed to be back to normal.

"Luke," she said fearfully, "What is going on?"

"Not entirely sure." I said, "Come on!"

We ran back down the stairs, ignoring the women's callings. We got to the bottom of the stairs and looked around. I asked a few people if they had seen a little blonde girl, but they all just told me off in various ways. One guy even talked about "bad vibes".

Not long after, I heard Thalia shout something. I quickly found her at a 3D Sims-like game, with Annabeth building strange structures around her fake city. Thalia got down on her knees and grabbed Annabeths' shoulder, shaking it just like I had done to her.

"Annabeth!" she called over the noise, "Annabeth, can you hear me?"

"What?" Annabeth asked distractedly, "No, go away. I'm busy."

Thalia looked at me desperately. "Luke, do what you did to wake me up!" she asked.

"I almost made you bungee jump." I said, "Your biggest fear. But what is Annabeth afr- spiders!"

Thalia turned back to Annabeth and tore her from the machine.

"Annabeth." She said sternly, "Spiders. Huge, terrifying spiders. Everywhere; hairy spiders all over-"

She cut off as Annabeth gasped.

"Oh my gods!" Annabeth explained, "I-I don't… I didn't… What happened to us?"

"Some sort of spell." I stepped forward, "I think. Probably. Point is: we need to get out of here."

"Okay, but- Thalia!" Annabeth suddenly cut off "What's that?!"

At first I had no idea what she meant, but then I saw what Annabeth was pointing at, and my fear quickly turned to confusion.

"What the…" Thalia started in surprise. "I have _no _idea what that is."

I didn't know either, and was starting to wonder if the hotel had driven us all nuts. Because the empty quiver Thalia had with her at the Pizza Zone, was suddenly strapped around her. And it was filled with arrows and a bow. Not only that; the bow and arrows were most definitely glowing.

Something nagged at the back of my memory. A story; a legend.

"Wait a second," I started, "I think I've heard of that before. You said those bows were bows blessed by Artemis, right?"

"Yeah." Thalia said, clearly confused, "What does that mean?"

"Something someone said at camp." I said, "Like, a story or something. I don't remember much, but I'm pretty sure that it was about a girl joining the huntresses of Artemis because of glowing bows."

"The bows were only to be used by huntresses of artemis." Annabeth reminded us. "If a non-huntress tried to use it, their shot would land nowhere near the target. Maybe she used the bow, and it worked, so she knew she was destined to be a huntress."

"But it worked for me," Thalia said, "And I'll never join the huntresses. Besides, that still doesn't explain the glowing."

"Wait a minute." I said, and put my hands to my temples. "I'm trying to remember the story… A girl and the huntresses. I'm pretty sure they were trying to get her to join them…. Because…. Because…"

"_The bow glows bright like the moon at night when hunters gather for their fight." _Annabeth suddenly cried. "_Separate they were, they are now one, and together they fight under the twin of the sun."_

"Yes!" I said excitedly, "It was something like that! But what does it mean?"

"The hunters gather for a fight …" Thalia started slowly, clearly thinking hard, "So, the bows glow when the hunters of Artemis are about to go to battle."

"The huntresses are always battling." I said, "The Cyclops would have noticed if the bows glowed all the time."

"Separate they were, they are now one..." Annabeth said, and suddenly it felt as if a light bulb went off in my head.

"I remember now!" I said, and they both looked at me "The story. The huntresses were separated somehow, and they found each other using the bows. When the bows glowed, they knew they were near each other."

"So we're near the hunters?" Thalia asked, confused "But why would they be here?"

"That's not all, though." I said, and racked my brain to remember more "After they had found each other, the bows started glowing again. But they were all together, so it didn't make sense that the bows would still glow. The bows glowed brighter when pointed a certain way, so they just followed the bows."

"What happened?" Annabeth asked curiously. She always did love a good story.

"They eventually found a girl in the woods." I said "The bows glowed like crazy when she was near them. The hunters decided that the girl was destined to be a huntress. So she joined them. Then she like, died, or something. Can't really remember the rest…"

"So it's either the huntresses, or someone destined to be one." Thalia said. "Either way, let's finds them. I'm not sure if I can turn this glowing off."

Thalia held out the bow and slowly spun in a circle. No one seemed to question what we were doing. Eventually, it glowed a little brighter. Not much, but noticeable. We walked forward slightly and it glowed brighter. We kept walking, sometimes having to turn a little until the glowing was brighter, until Thalia turned again, and the bow suddenly glowed brighter than ever.

"There!" Annabeth said, pointing to a pinball machine.

A small girl, maybe ten or eleven, was playing it. She had dark hair braided down her back and very old-styled clothing. Another boy wearing clothes from the same time was playing the machine next to her. Maybe they were friends.

"The bows agree." Thalia said. "C'mon, we've got a future huntress to meet."

_Next Chapter: The trio realizes that the two kids are more powerful than they seem. Power like this is dangerous. But can they really leave two kids by themselves in the world? Meanwhile, Percy is visited by someone in his prison, and finally gets some answers._

_!;;;`~`~`~`~======Percy Jackson and the Olympians======~`~`~`~`;;;!_

**Just to let you know: I will frequently add things to the summary about when the story will be updated, what's happening, etc.**

**Shout out to unknown lunatic who has one of the best Percy Jackson stories that you should definitely check out. It's called "My Mommy Hestia". Also, big thanks to unknown lunatic who gave me the inspiration to do this chapter.**

**Please review.**


	10. Losing It All

A broken laptop and the loss of 6,000 words have moved the updating time back. I'm not exactly sure when. I will also have trouble reading the reviews. In the meantime I will try to write out as much of this story as possible so there can be more chapters when I get my laptop.


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